Page 81 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

I barely recognize myself in the mirror. The girl staring back at me looks like she belongs in this frozen fairy tale, with her upswept hair and elegant gown.

But I can still see the shadows in my eyes, the tension in my shoulders.

“We shouldn’t keep him waiting,” I say, standing quickly. Maybe if I keep moving, I can outrun these thoughts, these feelings.

This growing awareness that I’m in way over my head.

“Now I know something happened.” Izzy rolls off the bed. “You never worry about keeping him waiting.”

I smooth nonexistent wrinkles from my skirts, avoiding her gaze. “Things are different now. We’re supposed to be learning court manners, remember?”

“Sure,” she drawls. “That’s definitely why you’re acting like this.”

Kila laughs so hard she nearly loses her balance.

Lucilline busies herself tidying up, but I catch her hiding a smile.

Great. Everyone can see right through me.

“Let’s just go,” I mutter, heading for the door before any of them can question me further.

We split up in the hallway, Lucilline and Kila heading to the servants’ staircase as Izzy and I head down the central stairs. But each step toward the receiving room feels heavier than the last.

How am I supposed to face him after last night? How can I, knowing how completely I surrendered to him?

Knowing that some traitorous part of me still aches to do it again?

Get it together, I tell myself fiercely. It was one moment of weakness. It doesn’t have to mean anything.

But as Izzy and I approach the receiving room, I have a sinking feeling that nothing will ever be simple again.

“Ready?” Izzy asks as we reach the door, her voice gentler now.

No. I’m not ready. I’ll never be ready.

But I lift my chin and square my shoulders anyway.

Whatever happens in that room, whatever game Ivrael is playing, I won’t let him see how deeply he’s affected me.

I won’t give him that power over me again.

Even if every fiber of my being knows I’m lying to myself.

“This is going to be awful,” I whisper.

Khrint opens the receiving room door for us, his expression professionally blank. My heart stutters as we enter, but the room is empty.

“His Lordship will arrive momentarily,” Khrint says, and backs out of the room with a bow.

I blow out the breath I’ve been holding, feeling strangely let down.

The receiving room is too perfect, too pristine. Like everything in Starfrost Manor, it gleams with impossible beauty—white walls trimmed in pale blue, delicate frost patterns etched into mirror-bright windows, thick rug with intricate blue and white designs.

After a year here, I know it’s all designed to remind visitors of Ivrael’s power, his control over ice and cold.

“We should just run.” Izzy’s sudden whisper carries the edge of panic I’ve been expecting since Ivrael brought her here. “Right now, while they’re not watching us. We could make it back to the Trasqo Market?—”

“No.” I grab her arm, pulling her farther from the door. “Trust me, I’ve tried running. Repeatedly.”

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