EMBER’S POV

The air is punched right out of my lungs.

A sharp, needling pain flares in my chest, but this time, it isn’t for me. My eyes dart to Silas.

His massive chest heaves, his jaw grinding so hard as he stares bitterly at his sister. Slowly, he swallows the hurt, lowers himself back into his chair, and deliberately avoids my gaze.

My heart aches for him.

I am used to weathering her savagery. I stopped hoping for a sliver of maternal warmth a long, long time ago.

Devika is exactly what she claims to be: an unrepentant, insufferable monster. And the only thing she has ever considered a...