Lady Asher stared at me directly with a malignant glare in her eyes. Her lips curled into a sly, calculating smile, sharp and unnerving. That smile was designed to hurt, to make me feel small and powerless. It hinted at secrets and small victories she had won against me.

Her eyes sparkled with a nasty glee, dark and unfathomable. There was a cruel light in them, as if she enjoyed seeing me get riled up by her.

The lines around her mouth deepened, signs of years spent scheming and deceiving. Her ...