I could scream myself apart.

He still wouldn’t hear me.

I looked at his face, dark with something close to madness, and closed my eyes.

When alive, I had thought about Julian constantly.

Almost every strong emotion had been about him.

The worst arguments I had with Lucian always followed something he did to Julian.

How could I explain now?

On that roof, I had wanted to protect Lucian.

He thought I was protecting my husband even after death.

Could I blame him?

I had loved Julian blindly enough to sacrifice myself.

I reached out.

Caught nothing.

Tears gathered until they fell.

“I was wrong.”

I looked into the enormous night.

For the first time, I understood how small I was.

One fragile, wandering soul.

Refusing to leave because I hated too much.

And somehow, everything was getting worse.

My mother had searched so hard for me. They had taken her tongue and locked her away.

I couldn’t help her.

The one person who wouldn’t let me go was the man I had called my enemy.

I had misunderstood him.

Hated him.

Resented him.

Now I was watching him walk into darkness for me.

“Please,” I begged the sky. “Make it stop. Don’t let him destroy his life because of me.”

If the people above that pool died, he would carry those deaths forever.

I closed my eyes.

“I don’t want revenge anymore. I accept it.”

The moment I said it, my spirit grew light.

So light.

I looked down.

The deathly white of my body had become pale moonlight, partly transparent.

I smiled bitterly.

Tessa had been right.

Let go, and you could be free.

Would freedom mean disappearing for me, too?

I wasn’t ready.

Lucian lowered his hand.

The ropes slackened.

The Sterlings dropped, screaming.

I shut my eyes.

“Luc. Stop.”

A voice broke across the grounds.

The family stopped just above the fish.

I looked up.

Felix had arrived.

That wasn’t surprising. He always followed Lucian.

The man beside him was.

His older brother, Sebastian Sinclair.

The youngest family head the Sinclairs had produced in a century.

Of Fairhaven’s four great families, theirs kept the lowest profile. Its actual strength was among the hardest to measure.

Sebastian rarely appeared in public. He had spent the last two years overseas, expanding the family’s business interests.

I had only seen him at a few formal events.

He stood out immediately.

Handsome, yes, but it was the quiet refinement and authority beneath it that held people’s attention.

However gentle he looked, nobody behaved carelessly around him.

He was the only man I had seen stand beside Lucian without being eclipsed.

And he had called him Luc.

I had only heard the duchess use that name.

I hadn’t realized they were so close.

Lucian looked at him coldly.

“Fuck off.”

Sebastian ignored it and spoke to his assistant.

“Get the family down. Make sure they’re comfortable. Mr. Sterling won’t hold a younger man’s behavior against him. The staff, however, may need reminding.”

His voice remained mild.

“If a word of tonight leaves this house, I’ll remember who said it.”

He wasn’t warning the servants.

He was warning Sterling.

Sebastian represented his family.

He was making his position clear.

He stood with Lucian.

Still, nobody could release the Sterlings without Lucian’s permission.

“Luc.” Sebastian lowered his voice. “I’ve just come from the castle. Your grandmother asked when you’re going to visit.”

So the Blackwoods knew what was happening here.

Lucian understood the warning.

“Using my family against me?”

Sebastian was quiet for a moment.

“I heard about Stella.”

At my name, Lucian’s expression grew colder.

Anger passed through his eyes.

And something else I couldn’t read.

He turned and left.

Permission enough.

His people released the family.

Sebastian left his assistant to deal with the aftermath, pressed his fingers to his brow, and followed.

“Our people in Veyra have her photograph,” he said, keeping pace with Lucian. “They’re looking. We should hear something soon.”

He glanced at his silent profile.

“I know you’re hurting, but tonight was too much. And Julian is exactly the sort of man who’ll smile to your face and complain behind your back.”

They approached the cars.

“He took it all the way to the president. The president was at the castle tonight. I happened to overhear the call. Luc—”

“She’s dead.”

Two quiet words.

They cut Sebastian’s sentence in half.

Shock filled his face.

Lucian opened the driver’s door.

Sebastian caught it.

“Before she died… did she know? That she was the woman you’ve always—”

“Shut up.”

I stared.

What else didn’t I know?

Lucian drove away before I could learn.

I had to follow.

At Rosehaven, he didn’t turn on the lights.

He didn’t go to his bedroom.

He went downstairs.

His fingerprint unlocked a heavy door.

Moonlight entered through the basement windows, casting the room in cold silver.

I stopped.

Photographs.

Everywhere.

Thousands of photographs of me.

The largest hung in the center.

I wore my school uniform, turning back in sunlight with a bright, living smile.

My high-school graduation day.