Intro. Her Fear of Baldwin was not the fear of the blade or magic. It was the fear of a white sheet of paper on which her fate was already inscribed.
He stood at the other end of the room, surrounded by courtiers, the embodiment of the world from which she had fled. A world of conventions, lucrative marriages, and predetermined lives.
Their eyes met for a second, just a second. But in his eyes, she read not a challenge, but something more terrifying: confidence. Confidence that she was his rightful trophy, a piece of legacy that he just had to take away when the time came.
Her heart, usually so steadfast, clenched into a ball of ice. She wasn't afraid of his wrath or power. She was afraid of his right, a right that was given to him by his name, his blood, and an arrangement that she hadn't even been asked about.