Inside the metal box lay a scroll.
It looked identical to the one Ella had signed in the woods—the textured skin, the faint smell of ozone.
But this one was older. The edges were frayed.
Ella picked it up with trembling fingers. She unrolled it.
**Wish 1:** *Cut the bond. Ethan.*
Ella felt heavy.
Ethan was her mate.
Roman had used smoke to kill the future.
**Wish 2:** *The Pawn. Sarah.*
The locker room. The video.
Roman had wound the doll up. Watched it strike.
**Wish 3:** *Leo.*
"No," she breathed.
He'd poisoned her brother. Just to make her sign.
**Wish 4:** *The Heir.*
Ella looked at her belly.
Not a child.
A dark wish with a heartbeat.
"No," she whispered.
She dug her nails into her skin.
"Get it out. Rip it out."
The tattoo on her chest flared hot, stinging her.
*It is done,* the witch's voice. In the walls. *The debt is owed.*
Ella saw it.
She wasn't a wife.
An incubator.
And she had thanked him for it. She had kissed him. She had let him mark her.
Bile burned. She had to leave. Now.
She shoved the scroll back into the box. She needed proof. If she could show this to the Council...
Except Roman *was* the Council now.
She needed Ethan.
She stood up, her legs wobbly. She grabbed the box and turned to the door.
Click.
The study door—the main door she had picked open—swung open.
Light flooded into the dark study. Roman's voice was too calm.
"I knew you were curious. But a thief?"
He was in the doorway.
His sleeves were up.
Black tattoos moved on his skin.
He smiled.
Ella didn't scream. She didn't cry. The fear had burned itself out, leaving only a cold, hard rage.
"You monster," she spat.
Roman walked toward her. "Was I a monster when I saved your brother?"
"You caused it!" Ella threw the metal box at him.
Roman's hand shot out. Quick. Snatching the box out of the air. He set it down on a side table.
"Details," he dismissed. "The result is what matters. You are here. You are safe. You are carrying my son."
"I am carrying a curse!" Ella screamed. She tried to run past him, but he grabbed her arm. His grip was like steel.
"Careful," Roman warned, his eyes flashing crimson. "Stress is bad for the baby."
"I don't care about the baby!" Ella lied, struggling. "I want to leave! Let me go!"
"You can't leave. You are bound. Law. Blood. Magic." He touched her jaw. "Does Ethan want you now? Carrying my child?"
"He loves me," Ella said, though her voice trembled.
"He loved the idea of you," Roman corrected.
"But I... I love the reality."
"I like you like this. Under my thumb. You used magic for a school fight. We are the same."
"I am nothing like you," Ella hissed.
Roman grabbed her wrist. He pushed it against his chest. She felt the tattoos. "We both want power. I just take it."
He let her go, stepping back.
"Go to your room, Ella. Dinner will be served in an hour."
"I'm not eating with you."
"You will eat," Roman said, turning his back to her to adjust the photos on the wall. "Or I will have the guards bring Leo here for a... playdate. I hear the Black Rot is painful the second time around."
Ella froze.
"You wouldn't."
Roman turned his head. He smiled. "Try me."
Defeated, Ella slumped. She walked to the door, her legs heavy.
"Don't try the hairpin again," Roman said.
Ella fled. She ran to her room and locked the door, sliding down against it. No way out.
But as she touched the tattoo on her chest, a thought occurred to her.