Ivy’s POV

The room felt too small, the walls pressing closer with every second that passed. Lucien’s words still rang in my head like a cruel echo: As long as I am alive, Ivy Rune will pay for her family’s sins.

My chest ached from the bond, the invisible thread tightening with each look he threw at me. He didn’t see me. He saw a punishment. A curse he could wield against the ghosts of my parents.

I wanted to scream at him. To claw the smug smile off his face. But when I opened my ...