Cold Vows

HINA'

Seraphina turned another page

quiet, her thoughts too loud. She sat curled on the armchair beside t

adn't co

rse he

he'd waited.

eneath the door. She froze, spine going

Faint. Th

the door and p

e was

eet, lay a w

sharp, deliberate hand.

u

aph

ars. It wasn't sealed, but somehow, opening it still

er out and read

cted at the ga

omethi

planation. No apol

tightened ar

e

des the press would expect from a newly

e

fire. Of defi

message-and she

n yet. A staff member had neatly arranged designer gowns in every shade imaginable. R

n stopped on a fitted red silk dress wi

n't he

be it h

from yesterday e

meant to

that w

to teach her what it felt like to be someone's

wear the

ot fo

hers

stretching with quiet tension. Zayden didn't return to th

nothing. It was a house full of ghosts-echoes of power, f

ning its corners. She returned to the library once, but the led

sn't a

s a w

er to retreat, he'd

arrived like a

e grand ballroom. Chefs clattered in the kitchen. The

rves like liquid flame. Her hair was swept into an elegant chignon, a few curls left loose to frame her face. A diam

ck and whispered, "You

Seraphina

asps followed. Even Genevieve, who had returned that a

he ap

yd

arcoal gray, sharp lines and sharper eyes. He looked

idn't

extended

he to

se she fo

o see what power looked like when