Ruin did not want a negotiation.
He wants a show. A spectacle of my 'submission'. A brilliant performance for his amusement.
His terms were delivered without urgency, without even the tiniest threat. Because he had known all along, from the moment he laid eyes on Ren that he didn't need to put me in chains and force me back to win this battle between us.
There was a revelry at Castle Ivashkov tonight. A celebration of the sixth year of his reign marked on the longest night of the year. Solstice.
Everyone will be in attendance.
Vampyrs. Wolves. Councilmen. Nobility. The press.
My parents.
My siblings.
The Laurents and the Ivashkovs united once more, as though the years of war between them had been nothing but a minor inconvenience.As though my father had not sold me out to mend whatever fracture existed between our families, like I was collateral damage.
I wonder what he'll say when he lays eyes on me again.
Six years.
