The chambers were too silent.

Seraphina paced the length of the room, her gown a whisper of silk dragging over the rug, her heart a storm she could not cage. She had torn the crown from her head the moment the doors closed, flinging it onto the table as if it burned. It still glinted mockingly in the candlelight, a symbol of the chains wrapped around her throat.

She hated him.

She hated herself more.

Kael’s words echoed through her bones. Tonight, I won’t be patient.

Her hands clenched. ...