I slammed the door harder than I meant to.

"Gods," I growled, pacing around the room like a storm trapped. "You're impossible."

"Oh, I'm impossible?" Cassandra shot back where she stood by the window, arms crossed, face flushed with irritation. "You're the one who just shuts down the moment things get difficult!"

"I do not—”

“You do!” she snapped. “You push me away and pretend like everyth...

She shouldn't be here.

Not now, not during the rain, and by the gods, not when I'm pledged to a man I don't even know. And yet—there she is. Outside the garden gate. Drenched in rain, cloak clasped around her arms, hair dripping and unbound, streaming down her cheeks like the storm had trailed behind her here just to weep for her instead.

Gods.

I step out onto the balcony, the hem of my nigh...

Cassandra burst through my bedroom door, eyes wild, fists clenched. A second later, I heard the echo of her slippers pounding against the marble floors as she stormed down the hall toward the grand stairwell.

“Cass—wait!” I stumbled after her, yanking my silk nightgown off the floor so I wouldn’t trip on it. My bare feet slapped against the cold stone as I jogged toward the stairs, heart pounding ...