EMBER’S POV

“Explain my face to you? How does that have anything to do with this?!” Her voice climbs. “If you must know, I slept, Ember. For the first time in weeks, my body finally let me rest peacefully, Goddess forgive me, and I woke up to this nightmare. I am grieving the loss of my favourite maids—the tragedy that has befallen this great house—and you want me to give you my ten-step skincare routine to satiate your superstitious insensitivity—”

“Spare me the crap, Hale.”

I don’t raise my voice. And that seems to frighten her more than if I had screamed.

“Everyone else here might be fooled by you,...