Nels

ndalized excitement ran th

ess snake! She threw herself at Demonte in secret, and now that she realiz

before she quickly masked it with sorrow. "Kelli... if you had only told me you wanted him

the cold floor. I didn'

t, rancid scent of his cheap musk and foul ambition made my

ad. "Are you absolutely certain that handker

am in his eyes. "Do not try to wiggle out of this, Kelli. You gave it to m

Lord Demonte claims this is proof of an illicit romance between us, I beg the royal he

red with two fingers

down from the dais, hold

tray with smug confidence, believing he

na reached out and snatched the handkerchief. "Allow me, Uncle! I sh

of freshly poured wine, looking at me as if I

xaggerated flourish. "Let us see what sweet

ruptly died

nto a mask of pure disbelief. Her fingers clenched the

mpted, his voice laced with

ked frantically from the handkerchief to Demonte,

rena stammered

calm step forward. "Did you find my name on it? Or pe

e stone platform. The sound cracked like thunder. "Herald, take the cloth from he

alyzed Serena. He held it up to the candlelight, squinting

went wide. He dropped to

mbroidery does not bea

d. "What? That

ud, Herald," the K

at, his voice carrying clea

, Lord Edward Wiley. May your spirit re

ce descended upo

hose face was now the

cutting through the silence like a frozen dagger. "Lord Demonte stole it from my family's memorial altar.