Morgan’s POV

I had watched my ambitions slip through my fingers like grains of sand, all because of their foolishness. Rylan and his brothers but instead chose to align themselves with someone I deemed no good, beneath us: Eliza, an orphan with no idea of her potential. We had taken her in and given her a home and food. She was ungrateful and deserved nothing.

The chains rattled as I shifted, reminding me of my confinement. I had underestimated their loyalty, convinced they would see reason. But their hearts were clouded by emotions—the very thing that had always been my Achilles' heel. I had no room for that weakness. It...