Page 143 of Kingmakers, Year Two

Still, it was a long, lonely week after the warmth and bustle of the Griffin household.

I miss Zoe already.

I miss her horribly.

She asked me again if I wanted to come to Los Angeles with her and Miles. I wanted to accept so badly. I feel safe with those two. Zoe is the only person on the planet who truly loves me, who would do anything to protect me.

But I knew I’d only be a third wheel, an anchor dragging them down while they try to build a life together.

I have to return to my own life at Kingmakers. Even if there’s something horrible waiting there for me.

It’s ironic. My father is forbidden to force me into a marriage contract against my will. But I’ve already trapped myself in something far, far worse.

The moment I step foot aboard the ship to Kingmakers, I’m looking around for Dean Yenin.

I remember the last words we spoke to each other as though it were three minutes ago, instead of three months.

“I know what you did . . .

“I saw you . . .

“I won’t tell. But understand this . . . I own you now. When we come back to school, you’re mine. My servant. My slave. For as long as I want you . . .”

I almost spilled my secret to Zoe a hundred times. I almost told her what I did.

But in the end, I stuffed the words down again, into the ball of frozen fear that’s been lodged deep in my guts all this time.

This is my burden to bear, not hers.

If I told Zoe the truth, she’d never feel free to go to L.A. with Miles.

She’d be compelled to stay with me, to try to protect me from something she simply can’t prevent.

Dean knows what I did. He could tell the Chancellor at any time. Nothing can stop him from doing that. My only chance is to stay on his good side. To trust in his mercy.

The only problem is that I don’t think he has any goddamned mercy.

I’m trying to please a man who can’t be pleased.

Dean is spiteful. Vengeful. Full of rage.

He could destroy me with a single word, just because I looked at him sideways.

The train of his hatred is long and complicated.

He hates Leo Gallo because of the feud between their families.

He hates Miles and Zoe because Miles is Leo’s cousin.

And he hates me because I’m Zoe’s sister.

But that barely scratches the surface of his fury.

I’ve thought about this long and hard over the summer, wondering how I truly attracted his ire.

Therealreason he hates me is that I saw him in a private, unguarded moment.

I saw him sobbing after Ozzy’s mother was executed by the Chancellor. I saw him hunched over, tears streaming down his face, as he gave in to the storm of pain inside him.

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