Chapter 5

• Zeva’s POV
• The hall was too bright. That was my first thought as the guards dragged me forward—two on each side, their grips bruising, their steps impatient. I had been stripped of everything familiar, wrapped in silk that didn’t belong to me, painted and adorned like a doll meant for auction. The gown felt cold against my skin, the colors too loud for someone who had spent her life fading into the background.
• And as I crossed the threshold of the Eastern hall, my bare feet brushing the cold stone, I felt every pair of eyes burning into me—mocking, curious, satisfied.