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My journey up those stairs was depressingly slow. My damaged heart pounded and fluttered by the time I reached the decadent landing. Only two weeks I’d been in the caves, but the strength I’d gathered was once again destroyed.
My cane tip sank into the thick carpet. The carved sideboard held a vase of flowers wider than two men.
The fragrance teased my nose as we drifted past.
Sweet and subtle, like honeysuckle—
No.
Like frangipani.
The moment my mind ripped that word from the tomb where I’d shoved all my memories, I stumbled.
I didn’t have the strength or the balance to stop my fall.
I landed on my knees.
I grunted with pain.
My mind swam as the two guards came back and unceremoniously picked me up. One on each side, they helped me down the stretch of corridor.
Expensive landscapes and impressive renders blurred as I clung to coherency. I lost track of how many doors we passed before they finally stopped, turned the ornate handle of the one we stood before, and pushed it open.
Without a word, they helped walk me inside, only stopping once they’d placed me on the plush purple couch under the high bay window.
Backing away with a bow, they kept their eyes on the carpet. “Can we do anything else for you, efendim?”
I had no doubt they’d tell the rest of the hired help how useless I was. How fragile and pitiful and broken.
But that was my father’s problem, not mine.
I’d begged for death enough times to think the devil himself had forgotten me. No matter how close I came to dying or how often my heart stopped, I never managed to stay dead.
I’d be grateful to anyone who succeeded.
But my father would be distraught.
Five years of hard work.
Five years of reconditioning.
All for nothing if one of his guards whispered to one of his enemies that his broken son would be easy pickings.
Sitting upright, I placed my hands on my thighs. “That’s all. You’re dismissed.”
“We’ll be outside your door if you need anything.” As one, they turned on their heel and stalked out of the suite. The click of the only exit closing sent a frisson of fear through me, but I shut it down immediately.
It didn’t matter that I was closed in.
I’d been imprisoned in a cage for five years.
At least this new one was so much better.
I’d lived in decadence on the days that I obeyed. But this new suite was given now I was a lord.
A suite I already hated.
Gritting my teeth, I struggled to stand, grabbed my cane, and shuffled forward to investigate. The gold, green, and blue carpet flowed through every room, lapping at the legs of gilded tables and fancy furniture. A table full of colourful glass bottles glittered in the late afternoon sunlight, and the closed double doors depicted a battle scene.
