Catherine swallowed, her pulse betraying her again, and this time not with heat, but with something far more dangerous.
Conflict.
Her thoughts drifted, unwillingly, back to Dorian.
She hadn't expected that version of him. Younger than her memories allowed. Less rigid. Less carved from war. He had danced with her, something he had despised in their previous life, and there had been an ease to him tonight that unsettled her more than anything. He'd been… flirty. Human. Almost gentle.
It was wrong. Entirely disheveling. That was not how she remembered him.
And yet…
The moment she learned he was the Blackwood heir, she had crossed him off without hesitation.
Last life, the imbalance between them had been undeniable. He'd held power in his hands while she survived day by day in his court that didn't accept her, crowned, titled, and yet always careful. Always watching. Always paying a price she never named aloud.
This life would be no different.
