Chapter 4

The entire household of maids and servants froze, terror written on every face.

Adrian's eyes burned red. "Such a wicked woman." A few words, and my sentence was pronounced.

That night, I was made to stand in the family chapel. The cold wind seeped into my bones, pain turning to numbness, until I could barely feel myself.

Before me were the portraits of the ancestors of House Sterling. I was commanded to copy the "Rules for a Lady" a hundred times. My quill scratched and twisted across the parchment.

I hummed a little tune as I wrote, my voice bright…