Pretending not to notice her, Samuel drove off past her.He could see her from his side mirror.She had to learn her lesson and realise her mistakes.She had pulled the last straw too many times.They finally got to the main exit of the residential area and drove out the giant gate after the residence security had certified that they were from the Vincenzo residence.He pressed a button that lifted the barrier for them to drive through.The security protocols in that residential area were very tight due to the fact that a lot of wealthy people resided there.Their statuses alone were a serious threat to them, talkless of their luxurious assets and publicity.As obvious as the prediction was, they were still on their way to the appointment a few minutes after 10:00 am.At the beginning of the day, they planned to beat time but time beat them instead.Elizabeth succeeded in making that happen..It was as if nature was a force against them as time itself began to run faster than usual.B
“Good afternoon” Vincent greeted her back, we were directed here to make a few payments for conducted tests and prescribed drugs.“Okay, just give me a minute” The receptionist said as she adjusted her wheeled seat to the left side of the long desk where the full computer set sat with a charger connected to it.“I’ve received your E-receipt and prescriptions Sir”“How would you like to pay? Via card or bank transfer” “Bank transfer please” Vincent replied.Hearing this, the lady handed him something that looked like a business card with the company's account numbers and bank names on it along with his bill for the tests and drugs “You can pay into any one”of themNodding his head, Vincent collected the card from the receptionist and reached for his phone in the left pocket of his pants to proceed with the transfer.The relaxed look on Vincent’s face suddenly changed into a tense one.“What’s wrong?” Jane asked Vincent, seeing the look of confusion written all over his face.Vincent c
They were fortunate enough to meet Samuel already waiting for them in the car by the time they got to where they had parked earlier.Samuel started the car and their drive home began.It wasn’t up to thirty minutes of their drive back home when Jane started to complain of hunger.“I told you to take your time during breakfast but you were being so stubborn”Vincent wasn’t completely wrong about that.If only Jane had just taken her time to finish her breakfast that morning, maybe…... .Just maybe, they wouldn’t have encountered Elizabeth the moment she arrived.“Samuel, please make a stop at the nearest restaurant around”“Yes Sir” Samuel nodded and altered the location on the car’s google maps.Not long after, the car came to a halt.When Vincent opened the door, he got out of the car to see a huge sign board by the left side of the restaurant, which read “THAI HOUSE”That was the name of the restaurant that Samuel stopped them at.Vincent proceeded to the back of the door to open the
When their Blue-Coloured Rolls Royce Sweptail finally drove into the building, Vincent and Jane got out of the car with the hospital drugs, leaving Samuel to park well in the garage.As Jane walked Vincent into the house, a very familiar voice suddenly called out “Sammy!”“Sammy”This caught Vincent and Jane’s attention as they both stopped right in their tracks.Realising who it was once again, Jane rolled her eyes.“Sammy…….You're home”This girl was no different from a boomerang, she made sure that she always came back.“What has she come here to do this time around?”“To finish what she started in the morning?” Jane thought to herself as she stayed frozen in that position to see what show Elizabeth planned to put on this time.Samuel walked out from the garage to meet Elizabeth waiting for him.He just stared at her, unable to utter a single word.“I'm sorry"“Babe I'm so sorry"Elizabeth began to plead with both her palms together as though she was saying some prayers.“I should
After Elizabeth left them alone, Jane took Vincent to his room so that he could get some rest, although he wasn’t feeling that sick.She had him freshen up and change into something more comfortable than a pair of jeans with a T-shirt.Jane prepared a cup of hot ginger tea for Vincent.Her mother usually did the same for her whenever she was sick.This was because of its antibacterial and antiinflammatory properties, so he wouldn’t become even more sick than he already was along the line. It didn’t take too long before Vincent finally fell asleep after drinking the tea.With Vincent asleep, the next few hours were very boring for Jane as she left the confines of her room to the main parlour.Jane had a very long day and she should've been asleep too but she wasn’t the type to fall asleep in broad daylight.She thought of playing games on the play station but being a single player was boring as well.Besides, without Vincent she would just be playing against herself.She also thoug
Earlier on, Jane was in no mood for this young lady but this…….This was just too funny.It was definitely worth a good laugh!Jane continued to laugh so hard, hitting her fist on the wall.Elizabeth stood there in a state of confusion wondering what exactly was funny.What exactly did she find funny about what she had just said?Or had she suddenly gone mad?Jane continued to laugh like a crazy person.Elizabethwas probably not wrong for thinking that she was.“What is funny about what I just said?” Elizabeth asked Jane with a serious look on her face.Jane finally stopped laughing and took in a very deep breath while looking up at the ceiling.Clearing her throat, Jane began “Where do I even begin?”As much as Jane wanted to insult and ridicule Elizabeth with the truth of the matter, she didn’t want to be the hindrance to her Vincent’s plan.Their death stares and gazes were doing the fighting as numerous things ran through the minds of both ladies.“Out” Jane finally broke the silen
Elizabeth aggressively picked up her black purse where it sat and took out a napkin from it, continuously wiping her face with it.Jane laid on her stomach with both elbows supporting her hands that held her phone, while she swung her legs behind her in the air.She just couldn’t help but shake her head every two minutes whenever her mind played out a glimpse of what transpired between herself and Elizabeth on the staircase.She wasn’t expecting the reaction that Elizabeth gave off when she called her a gold digger.Elizabeth seemed like someone who wasn’t capable of loving anyone.Her love for wealth and luxury had completely blinded her heart towards any form of love.The remorse on Elizabeth’s face looked so real this time, unlike the fake one she expressed while apologising to her earlier.Or could it be that she actually did love Samuel?That was impossible and even if it was, it was definitely none of Jane’s problems.She had promised Vincent that she would not dare to interfere
The unfriendly banter between Jane and Elizabeth went on for quite some time.It escalated over the next few days that followed.Elizabeth never got tired of stepping on Jane’s toes; Jane on the other hand was already fed up with her nonsense.Things continued like this until Samuel and Elizabeth’s wedding got fixed.They both agreed to conduct the main wedding ceremony before having to conduct their court wedding.After much deliberation, they finally fixed a date for it.On that Saturday, the wedding was fixed to be held at a grand hall.One of the biggest in the city.Everything was perfect!It was a luxurious and spacious venue, specifically designed to accommodate a very large number of guests from the looks of the ceremony space in the hall.The hall gave off a feeling of majesty with its large grand doors and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.The architecture of the pla
Closing her eyes, Irene unspooled her magic into a gentle, probing thread, and laid a palm on that splattered star atop his spine.The cold slammed into her, spikes of it firing through her blood and bones.Irene reeled back as if she’d been given a physical blow.Cold and dark and anger and agony—She clenched her jaw, fighting past this echo in the bone, sending that thread-thin probe of power a little farther into the dark.The pain would have been unbearable when it hit him.Irene pushed back against the cold—the cold and the lack and the oily, unworldly wrongness of it.No magic of this world, some part of her whispered. Nothing that was natural or good. Nothing she knew, nothing she had ever dealt with.Her magic screamed to draw back that probe, move away—“Irene .” His words were far away while the wind and blackness and emptiness of it roared around her—And then that echo of nothingness … it seemed to awaken.Cold filled her, burned along her limbs, creeping wider, encirc
“Will it be hours every day that you work on him?” Nesryn’s words were steady, almost flat, and yet … The woman was not a creature who took well to a cage. Even a gilded one such as this.“I would recommend,” Irene said to Nesryn over a shoulder, “that if you have other duties or tasks to attend to, Captain, these hours would be a good time for that. I shall send word if you are needed.”“What about moving him around?”The lord’s eyes flashed at that.And though Irene was predisposed to chuck them both to the ruks, she noted the lord’s simmering outrage and self-loathing at the words and found herself saying, “I can handle most of it, but I believe Lord Westfall is more than capable of transporting himself.”Something like wary gratitude shot across his face. But he just said to Nesryn, “And I can ask my own damn questions.”Guilt flashed across Nesryn’s face, even as she stiffened. But she nodded, biting her lip, before she murmured to Vincent , “I had some invitations yesterday.”
Vincent shot Irene back an equally displeased look the moment Kashin paused to sip his wine, and then launched question after question to the prince regarding his life. Helpful information, he realized, about their army.He was not the only one who realized it. Arghun cut in while his brother was midsentence about the forges they had constructed near their northern climes, “Let us not discuss business at dinner, brother.”Kashin shut his mouth, ever the trained soldier.And somehow Vincent knew—that fast—that Kashin was not being considered for the throne. Not when he obeyed his eldest brother like any common warrior. He seemed decent, though. A better alternative than the sneering, aloof Arghun, or the wolflike Hasar.It did not entirely explain Irene ’s utter need to distance herself from Kashin. Not that it was any of his business, or of any interest to him. Certainly not when Irene ’s mouth tightened if she so much as turned her head in Vincent ’s direction.He might have calle
Vincent waited until Nesryn had been gone for a good thirty minutes before he summoned Kadja. She’d been waiting in the exterior hallway and slipped inside his suite mere moments after he’d called her name. Lingering in the foyer, he watched the serving girl approach, her steps light and swift, her eyes downcast as she awaited his order.“I have a favor to ask you,” he said slowly and clearly, cursing himself for not learning Halha during the years Levi had studied it.A dip of the chin was her only answer.“I need you to go down to the docks, to wherever information comes in, to see if there’s any news about the attack on Rifthold.” Kadja had been in the throne room yesterday—she’d undoubtedly heard about it. And he’d debated asking Nesryn to do some searching while she was out, but if the news was grimhe didn’t want her learning it alone. Bearing it alone, all the way back up to the palace. “Do you think you could do that?”Kadja lifted her eyes at last, though she kept her head
She’d known his age, but Irene had still not expected the former captain to look so … young.She hadn’t done the math until she’d walked into that room and seen his handsome face, a mix of caution and hope written across the hardened, broad features.It was that hope that had made her see red. Had made her ache to give him a matching scar to the slender one slicing across his cheek.She’d been unprofessional in the most horrific sense. Never—never had she been so rude and unkind toward any of her patients.Mercifully, Hasar had arrived, cooling her head slightly. But touching the man, thinking of ways to help him …She had not meant to write the list of the last four generations of Towers women. Had not meant to write her mother’s name over and over while pretending to record his information. It had not helped with the overwhelming roaring in her head.Sweating and dusty, Irene burst into Hadiza ’s office nearly an hour later, the trek from the palace through the clogged, narrow str
He tried not to flinch. Even Nesryn blinked at the frank question.“Yes,” he said tightly, fighting the heat rising in his cheeks.She looked between them, assessing. “Have you used it to completion?”He clenched his jaw. “How is that relevant?” And how had she gleaned what was between them?Irene only wrote something down.“What are you writing?” he demanded, cursing the damned chair for keeping him from storming to rip the paper out of her hands.“I’m writing a giant no.”Which she then underlined.He growled, “I suppose you’ll ask about my bathroom habits now?” “It was next on my list.”“They are unchanged,” he bit out. “Unless you need Nesryn to confirm.” Irene merely turned to Nesryn, unruffled. “Have you seen him struggle withit?”“Do not answer that,” he snarled at Nesryn.Nesryn had the good wits to sink into a chair and remain quiet.Irene rose, setting down the pen, and came around the desk. The morning sunlight caught in her hair, bouncing off her head in a corona.She
So Vincent had, half paying attention to the meal unfolding before him, half monitoring every word and glance and breath of those around him.Despite their youngest sister’s death, the heirs made the meal lively, conversation flowing, mostly in languages Vincent did not know or recognize. Such a wealth of kingdoms in that hall, represented by viziers and servants and companions—the now-youngest princess, Duva, herself wedded to a dark-haired, sad-eyed prince from a faraway land who kept close to his pregnant wifeand spoke little to anyone around him. But whenever Duva smiled softly at himVincent did not think the light that filled the prince’s face was feigned. And wondered if the man’s silence was not from reticence but perhaps not yet knowing enough of his wife’s language to keep up.Nesryn, however, had no such excuse. She’d been silent and haunted at dinner. He’d only learned that she’d bathed before it thanks to the shout and slamming door in her chambers, followed by a huff
Hadiza ’s face darkened. Not with ire, but memory. “I was once asked to heal a man who was injured while evading capture. After he had committed a crime so unspeakable … The guards told me what he’d done before I walked into his cell. They wanted him patched up so he could live to be put on trial. He’d undoubtedly be executed—they had victims willing to testify and proof aplenty. Eretia herself saw the latest victim. His last one. Gathered all the evidence she needed and stood in that court and condemned him with what she had seen.”Hadiza ’s throat bobbed. “They chained him down in that cell, and he was hurt enough that I knew … I knew I could use my combat to make the internal bleeding worse. They’d never know. He’d be dead by morning, and no one would dare question me.” She studied the vial of blue tonic. “It was the closest I have ever come to killing. I wanted to kill him for what he had done. The world would be better for it. I had my hands on his chest—I was ready to do it. Bu
Of all the rooms in the Torre Cesme, Irene Towers loved this one best.Perhaps it was because the room, located at the very pinnacle of the pale-stoned tower and its sprawling complex below, had unparalleled views of the sunset over Antica.Perhaps it was because this was the place where she’d felt the first shred of safety in nearly ten years. The place she had first looked upon the ancient woman now sitting across the paper- and book-strewn desk, and heard the words that changed everything: You are welcome here, Irene Towers.It had been over two years since then.Two years of working here, living here, in this tower and in this city of so many peoples, so many foods and caches of knowledge.It had been all she’d dreamed it would be—and she had seized every opportunity, every challenge, with both hands. Had studied and listened and practiced and saved lives, changed them, until she had climbed to the very top of her class. Until an unknown healer’s daughter from Benjamin was appr