Elizabeth stared at me.
Then, unexpectedly, sighed.
A tired, old sound from a face too young to own it.
“My apologies. I do not mean you are dead, golden wolf.” Her gaze moved over me again, slower now. “I mean something has been trying to make room inside your life. Around your power. Around your bond. Around the places you think are safest.”
She knew all of this just smelling a vial and looking at me. Really?!
Aiden’s voice cut through the silence. “The vial was buried near her hybrid roses.”
Elizabeth’s head snapped toward him.
Sharp.
Too sharp.
For the first time, she looked truly angry.
Not surprised.
Angry.
“Which roses?”
I swallowed. “Dragon-blood hybrids.”
Her purple eyes came back to me.
The judgment was gone.
Only calculation remained.
“And they lived?”
“Yes.”
