TATIANA’s POV

Ambition is a sickness. It makes you hungry for scraps, and when someone finally throws you a whole meal, you don’t stop to ask if it’s poisoned.

Charles had once told me I was different. “Not like the rest,” he’d murmured, his voice like velvet, his hand heavy on my shoulder. “You have teeth.”

Those words had fed me for months. I replayed them on restless nights, when my reflection in the mirror felt like nothing more than painted lips and perfect curls. ...