Chapter Twenty-Six: The Heir Apparent
The morning light did not filter into the room; it pierced through the heavy velvet curtains like a golden blade, slicing across the silk sheets of the massive bed. I sat up abruptly, my heart racing before my mind could even register where I was. For a split second, I looked for the peeling wallpaper of the cottage and listened for the sound of the wind in the Oakhaven pines. But all I heard was the hum of a high-tech climate control system and the distant, muffled sound of a city that never slept.
I was in the lion’s den.
I threw back the duvet and stood up, my feet sinking into a rug that felt like walking on a cloud. I felt exposed in the oversized silk nightgown that had been laid out for me—another piece of the "Rachael" Alexander wanted to re
