Her cheeks flushed with shame and fear, not from the rumor but from the threat itself.

For a breath Sacha looked older than the boy who joked in the dining hall-hollowed, dangerous in a way that belonged to men who kept secrets like blades.

"You think I want pity?" he said, quieter, almost a growl. "You'd hand this to them and-" He jerked his chin toward the direction of the Hollow Six rooms, toward the corridors where Baron's shadow moved like a verdict. "-they'd use it against me in ...