***BLAKE***

I dragged myself back to the castle—blood drying on my face, Derrick’s last words crawling under my skin like something venomous. Every heartbeat hurt. Every breath felt like a reminder that I’d failed again. But I still told myself the same thing over and over:

I’m never giving in. Not to him. Not to anything he wants.

I crossed the gates with that thought burning through me. My guards didn’t even ask questions—they knew better than to speak when I looked like that. I ...