Viya's POV
Something in my chest cracked at those words.
I'd prepared for everything. I'd run through every possible scenario with Miranda, with the Blackwood elders, with anyone who might try to sabotage this launch.
I'd rehearsed my responses, checked my data a hundred times, made sure there were no weak points they could exploit.
I was ready.
But hearing him say that—hearing that absolute certainty in his voice—suddenly made my nose sting and my eyes burn.
He'd said things like this to me before. So many times when I was younger.
During that awful year and a half when I'd first been brought to the Blackwood estate, when Margaret had slowly ground down all my natural confidence and joy.
Caesar had been the one to build me back up. Over and over again, he'd told
