EMBER’S POV

“I don’t know!” Queenie sobs. “I-I don’t understand. This has never happened before—this feels like a really bad dream. The other maids are saying the Sovereign is cursed! How else do you explain seven women dying in one night, Ember?”

My knees go weak.

Before I can completely give out, Knox is there. His hand closes over my shoulder, physically locking me in place.

I look up at him, bracing for a reaction, but his jaw is just set tight. He is perfectly, ruthlessly controlled. Every inch the King analysing a fresh problem.

“A curse would be the laziest assumption,” Knox says, his flat voice cutting straight through...