Diamante left shortly after helping me into the dress, promising that someone would come for me soon. I nodded, too numb to respond properly, my thoughts still tangled in her parting words. I sat on the edge of the bed, pressing my palm to my chest where my heart pounded like a warning drum. Why would Gosto say something like that? Declaring someone he’d just claimed as a slave as Lady of the House it was absurd. Not that I wanted to be treated like a slave, but none of it made sense.

The ...