Adele’s POV

Emilia went very still beside me.

The kind of stillness that comes right before a storm breaks.

Then she turned fully toward me, took both my hands in hers, and looked me dead into my eyes with that fierce, queenly fire I’d seen her use on men who thought they could intimidate her.

“Listen to me very carefully, Adele,” she said, voice low and filled with certainty. “Lucien will not reject you. I would bet my crown on it. I would bet my life.”

I tried to look away, but she wouldn’t let me.

“But,” she continued, softer now, “he is a proud, broken, terrified man who is...