Chapter 2
Ada refused to leave the training room until I did.
I did not argue.
After what happened, forcing her anywhere would have been another version of the same thing.
I cut the rest of the padded strap from her wrists myself.
Red marks.
Nothing severe.
Enough.
She looked at the spilled water.
“I asked three times.”
My chest tightened.
“For water?”
“Yes.”
“Who said no?”
“Rhea.”
I looked at her.
She did not look ashamed.
“Training builds discipline.”
I almost smiled.
“You call dehydration discipline?”
“She wasn’t dehydrated.”
There it was.
Pain minimized because it had not reached catastrophe.
Ada laughed bitterly.
“She told me if I cried, they’d keep the camera closer.”
I went still.
Rhea shrugged.
“She needed to stay visible.”
“Why?”
Silence.
Rafe answered from Gavin’s phone.
The payments were labeled:
OBSERVATION ACCESS.
Not assault.
Not punishment.
Observation.
I scrolled through the messages.
One line repeated from multiple senders:
MAKE SURE HE SEES HER BEFORE SHE SEES HIM.
Another:
NO CUTS. NO BROKEN BONES. WE NEED HIS CHOICE CLEAN.
My stomach turned.
They wanted me thinking clearly.
That was worse.
This had not been about rage.
They wanted a controlled response.
Would Ronan kneel?
Would Ronan bargain?
Would Ronan surrender authority?
Would Ronan attack immediately?
A behavioral test.
On a live feed.
Using my sister.
I looked at Ada.
“Did they ask you anything?”
She nodded slowly.
“About you.”
“What?”
“Whether you’d give up a seat.”
My jaw tightened.
“What seat?”
“I don’t know.”
Gavin laughed again.
“The one that matters.”
I turned.
He looked almost proud.
“Seven Bellini captains want to know whether you love your sister more than the chair.”
I walked toward him.
“My chair?”
“No.”
He smiled.
“Your father’s.”
May you like
My father had been dead six years.
And apparently the old Bellini throne had become valuable again.
