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His hand moved down my neck, onto the bare skin of my chest and inside the bodice of my dress “But you orth the wait”

My teeth sank into ive in to the need to start crying hysterically

The only weapon I had in thatinto the ones belonging to a man he considered a friend A brother

“Where is your brother?” he asked, hand still inside my dress

I juttedsilent

The grip, that had been a wretched caress, turned violent, and I forced myself to hold in a cry

“It’s not inforward to smell my neck “If I have time, I do have plans for you”

My stomach dropped, and my vision blurred with tears

He leaned back “I want to end the family line, and no matter howto hand his empire over to a woman”

The way he spat the word, like it tasted sour, told eneral This was not a world where wohts, had power Not on the outside, at least My father may have ruled the empire, but , ferocious and forht I needed to be weak or subservient

But I also knew my place Knew that my nine-year-old brother was privy to more of my father’s business than I was That I was to look pretty in dresses, learn how to throw a party and marry a man ould fit into our family

He was right Even if the worst happened to my brother—and I would never let that happen—I would not take over the fao to a cousin, a distant male relativeif any were still alive I wondered how deep this betrayal went How many of my father’s men were involved?

“Where is your brother, Isabella?” he whispered

“You’ll have to killmy fear I dared not look at the arh