Sotza's words echoed through her brain in a constant loop. Ask me for the world. What if she did? Then what. Would he give it to her? Was he implying that if he fell in love with her that he would give her anything she wanted? Would he grant her freedom if that's what she asked for? Vee's head spun with the possibilities. She never once thought to cultivate his attentions.

When Vee was younger, in her late teens and early twenties, she'd been forced to do things she wasn't ...