Page 175

And now she’s here, close enough to cross the room and touch, and the realization locks around my ribs harder than any attack ever has. I was right. She was alive this whole time. She was out there, somewhere, breathing.

Don’t let go, I begged her once.

Never, she promised.

Apparently, she never did.

“Thank you for taking care of my brother,” she declares, her voice carrying cleanly through the silence as armed men spread through the entrance behind her. “The Marrow family appreciates your hospitality. I’ll take Rowan from here.”

The name doesn’t register.

Marrow.

My gaze locks onto Sola. What is she talking about?

Whoever the Marrows are, the Virels recognize them.

For the first time all evening, Angela Virel’s composure shatters. Her mouth parts in disbelief, and she rises so abruptly her chair scrapes against the marble. Her fingers tighten around the silver cane as she stares blindly into the distance. “I should have known. The sequence. Christian!”

Her husband is already moving.

The change ripples through the pavilion. Guards straighten. Conversations die. Security teams begin repositioning themselves while guests look around in confusion.

Then chaos detonates. Guests shove back from their tables as hands disappear beneath jackets and guards surge into motion across the pavilion floor.

“What the fuck is this?” Lucan barks.

Two of Sola’s guards reach me, positioning themselves between me and the Noctis.

Lucan shoves his chair back, nearly crashing it into the table behind him, and Rafe is already on his feet.

Beside him, Marius drags another guest out of the way before the growing chaos spills across the pavilion floor. “Why the hell is the Marrow family standing inside a private Virel event, armed and all?”

Nobody answers him.

“Enough.” Angela Virel’s voice cuts through the pavilion like a blade. Unfolding to her feet, she turns toward the disturbance, her sightless gaze sweeping across the chaos without hesitation. “Lucian and Aster Marrow. The Virel family has always considered yours an ally. Explain why you’ve brought armed men into my home.”

Aster Marrow? I stare at my sister, trying to sort through the reality of this name I don’t recognize being associated with Sola.

A man—Lucian Marrow, presumably—steps forward before Sola can answer, one hand resting lightly against the button of his jacket. “My apologies, Angela. This was never intended as an insult to your family, but circumstances changed.”

Something tightens in Christian’s expression. “What circumstances?”

“The kind that no longer allow us the luxury of waiting.”

My gaze catches on Ciaran across the room. Our eyes lock through the chaos, and something dark flashes across his face. It punches the breath from my lungs, because it’s not fear or anger.

It’s betrayal.

Like he thinks I’ve been lying to him all along.

I drag my attention away from him and find Halvern near the side of the room. He’s standing strangely still beneath the pavilion lights while guests continue backing away from the stage around him.

The second I see his face, I know he isn’t surprised. If anything, he looks like someone watching events unfold exactly the way he expected them to.

“Rowan.” Ciaran steps toward me, ignoring the guests scrambling out of his path. “Did you know this? Tell me you had no idea.”

“I… I⁠—”