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I stepped forward. “You can’t do that! The agreement was that my brother would get a full pardon.”

“Oh, I assure you, I can,” he said, his face twisting into menacing glee. “The agreement was that theDissenterswould not hold a trial against him, but I am no Dissenter, girl. If Sasharefuses to prosecute him, that’s her business, but hewillstand trial for the role he played in the crimes committed against the North.”

“That’s not fair!”

He stormed the distance between us, his frame towering mine. “Life’s not fair, is it? Wes disobeyed a direct order because of you, and now I’m left to clean up this mess from last night. You and Wes want to play games with me? That’s fine. Be ready to watch how real men play the game.”

Anger raged within me, my hands curling into fists as I glared at Charles. “I won’t sign.”

He pointed a finger at me, growing taller, broader before my eyes. I couldn’t help it. I cringed. “You don’t sign, then I can guarantee your brother will rot in that tower. You can say goodbye to ever seeing him again, and then you can watch him burn alive as they did my son.”

“You can’t do that!” I repeated, tears of desperation beginning to flood my vision. This was bad. This was so,sobad. What the hell was I going to do? I had no cards to play, no power to wield, nothing to shield me or protect my brother. I was useless, worthless,broken.

“Oh, I can, and I will. So you’re going to be a good girl, and you’re going to sign the treaty. And then, you’re going to keep my fucking son in line,” he yelled at me, his face only inches from mine. “You’re going to make sure that when I tell him to jump, he jumps. When I tell him to kneel, he kneels.”

“I don’t control Wes—” I protested, but I didn’t get the chance to finish. Charles shot out his hand and gripped the hair on the back of my head. “Stop it! You’re hurting me!”

“You’re going to control him, I assure you. You’re going to make him theperfectson. I don’t care how you do it.” He pulled my hair harder, pulling my head back so I couldn’t look anywhere else but at his face. “But youwillcontrol him, orI predict that your brother’s trial won’t go well for him. That he might as well have been left to rot in that tower. Do you understand?”

I swallowed, feeling my poor heart abusing itself in its cage. “Yes,” the sound barely audible as fear drenched every nerve in my body.

“I’m sorry, Miss de la Puente,” Charles twisted his grip in my hair, causing me to wince, my knees buckling, “but I couldn’t hear you. I asked,do you understand?”

My lashes fluttered, teardrops clinging to the delicate strands. “Yes,” I repeated louder. “I understand.”

“Good,” he responded and then let go of my hair forcibly. “Now, go be a good girl, and bring me back a Telvian prince.”

I glared at him, fear still gripping my soul as I turned to leave.

“Miss de la Puente,” Charles called, causing me to pause. “If you tell anyone about our arrangement, the scars your father left on you won’t even compare to what I’ll do to you…or to my son.”

I didn’t reply. I couldn’t.

My life went from fairytale to nightmare in one morning. I had no idea how I was going to keep my brother alive and Wes safe from his father. The whole thing was hitting me like a runaway train. And when I finally met up with Wes and saw his pained expression, I knew I couldn’t tell him. I knew I couldn’t share that he had to be a slave to his father’s wishes for me…becauseof me. I couldn’t tell him I was now a weapon against him. That the love he had finally allowed himself to feel was the very thing that would keep him enslaved in this godforsaken house. I felt as his lips touched mine. Heard as he asked me what happened, and listened as I held the truth back from him, lying through a reassuring smile.

It’s funny how life can be. I made a promise that I would never betray his trust, that I would protect him no matter what. Andhere I was…the only way to keep him safe was by breaking my vow to never deceive him.

I just hoped that he could forgive me, because I wasn’t sure if I would ever forgive myself.

49: Just Getting Started

We didn’t talk about much on the drive. In fact, we didn’t talk at all. I thought Wes was still nursing his pride after his father backhanded him in front of me, while I…well, I was freaking out.

Everything was falling apart, and I was finding myself cornered with little options. Charles had me caught between a rock and a hard place, and he knew it. He was going to use me to make Wes do things I knew he didn’t want. And I couldn’t bear that. Wes spent his life cooking up ways to defy his father, to assert silently that he was his own person. But Charles was going to use me like a vice, choking Wes, making him conform into a version of himself he didn’t want to be.

I just couldn’t do that.

I couldn’t be the person who forced Wes into that position. But, if I didn’t, then I risked my brother’s life. I risked Charles having Jacob executed or keeping him as a prisoner for the rest of his existence as leverage against me.

I was stuck.

And no matter how hard I turned the puzzle in my head, I couldn’t find a way out…except for one. There was exactly one card I had left to play. The only card Charles didn’t expect from me.

And I was going to play it.

But I was going to need help. I was going to need two very specific people for the job. And I was going to have to be quick about it because time was running out.

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