The fire crackles in the hearth of my office, casting flickering shadows along the walls. The amber glow barely reaches the edges of the room.

It suits me.

The silence and solitude should be calming, but it grates against my nerves.

I rub my temple, staring down at the papers that are now stacked in a messy pile on my desk. Normally, I’d be focused by now, but I can’t be. Not when she tried to escape earlier today.

The defiance in her eyes, the way she refused to submit, and even the way ...