Cindy
They were supposed to be dead by now.
Or gone. Broken. Forgotten.
But instead, they came back.
He came back.
I stared at the messenger, disbelief twisting through my gut like poison. “What did you just say?” I hissed.
The man flinched, his voice trembling. “The Lord—he found her. The dungeon at Serpent’s Ridge. She’s alive. And… and he took her back to the manor. Injured, but breathing.”
My mind blanked. For a heartbeat, everything went still.
He found her.
He actually found her.
I turned and hurled the glass in my hand across the room. It shattered against the wall, wine streaking red like blood. My heart pounded so loud I barely heard my own breath.
No. No, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
I had timed everything perfectly. Paid the right men, picked the right nigh
