{IRIS}
Hatred rose without warning, hot and venomous, coiling tight in my chest—its fangs aimed squarely at Caroline.
I hated the way Lord Val held her.
The way his arm curved around her as if she already belonged there.
As if she had always been meant to stand in that place.
The sight tore something open inside me, dragging forth memories I had long buried.
Ember—the same sharp, unreasoning fury, the same violent urge to rip and destroy, surged through me once more.
It was familiar in the worst way. Intimate. Like a wound that had never truly healed.
I hated that feeling most of all.
Because I had no right to it.
Lord Val and I… there had never been anything between us. I knew that. I had always known it.
What I felt for him was nothing like what bound me to Lorcan—that was instinct, fate, something written into blood and soul alike.
And yet—
Lord Val had saved my life.
