I balled my hands into tight fists to keep them from wrapping around Mr. I-Know-Everything's superior neck.

Don't worry. I'm only your escort tonight. I would offer to protect you from the drunken attentions of the other men, but I know all too well that you're quite capagble of holding your own.

For the first time, I was the center of attention. Everyone watched me as if I were a bomb. Would I explode and cause a disaster or would I pop and cause a miracle?

Ursan flourished the knife, threatening me. "Talk, or I'll start cutting off body parts." "Yours? Or mine?" I kept my voice steady despite my insides twisting into goo. "It's an important distinction.

Anything else you want to tell me?” I asked Valek as we stopped a few feet short of the castle’s south entrance. “Did Ari and Janco set me up for Nix’s attack? Do you have another test of loyalty for me up your sleeve? Maybe the next time, I’ll actually fail. A prospect that seems appealing!” I pushed away Valek’s supporting arm. “When you warned me that you would test me from time to time, I thought you meant spiking my food. But it seems there is more than one way to poison a person’s heart, and it doesn’t even require a meal.

Valek leaned back in his chair and said to me, “I don’t think I would have made it past the audition,Yelena. I probably would have set my hair on fire by this point.” “What’s a singed head for the sake of art?” I teased. He laughed.

Living with your decision must be hard. Nothing I or anyone can say will give you any peace. You must reconcile your actions in your heart.