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Standing, I moved to the door, then stopped.

My chest felt tight. My hands were shaking.

For the first time in years, I felt something I didn’t recognize.

Guilt.

No.

Not guilt.

Fear.

Fear that I’d already lost her.

Fear that even if I told her the truth, she’d never forgive me.

Fear that I didn’t deserve forgiveness.

I shoved the ring back into the trunk and locked it.

Two days to decide what I’d do.

Two days to decide whether I’d betray her again or find a way to break the pattern Evangeline had built into the House’s foundation.

I pulled the ledger off the floor and flipped through the pages until I found the clause I’d avoided for years.

No contract may bind a gift freely given without demand for ownership or return.

Evangeline had written it herself, back when she thought she’d be the one receiving gifts instead of giving them.

She’d been wrong.

If I could make Zinnia understand what that clause meant, we might both survive what came next.

But first, I had to face her.

I had to be cruel enough to make her fight back.

Push her hard enough that she’d see the trap before it closed.

And I had to do it without telling her the truth.

Because the House was listening.

And it would use anything I said against us.

Leaving the room, I went to find her.

The second ritual was tomorrow night.

And I needed to make sure Zinnia survived it.

Even if it meant I didn’t.

Chapter 9

Rook