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ian
and rotting cabbage, a foul, acidic burn with every breath I
a mouth ful
ut of
garbage rained down, each impact a dull thud of pain t
I wanted to tell t
my own mother, Annis, had forced down it
under a false name"Griffin Joseph". Ten years fighting in the brutal Spine of the W
the High Sovereign himself fastening the medal to my
dog dying i
up, mud and blood blurring my vision. My half-brother, Johnathan Joseph, looked d
ot inherit titles or honor. If word gets out about you disguising yourself as a man to join the army, our family
y adopti
go, your parents had already informed the royal court that Amara, the 'Wraith of the Spine' who fell in battle, the younger sister of Griffin Joseph, would inherit his legacy. She
om the sheer force of rage and betrayal that seized my heart. It felt liquiver. A practice shaft. He meant to toy with me, to break m
, twisted into a monstrous grin against the falling snow.
I had defended. They stole my honor, my life, and now
ck. Bone shattered. Pain exploded through me, but I cou
ans, prolonging it. My consciousness began to fr
oul. Johnathan's sneer. My mother Annis's cold indifference. My father Carroll's c
I, Gillian Joseph, swear I
gentle warmth. The stench of rot vanished,
my eyes fl
breathing hard, in
r rested near my fingers. Through the window, the fam
. But the calluses from a decade of holding a sword
asn't
my past life, to save my family from the charge of treason for my years of deception-a woma
s sister," was scheduled to meet with Lady Kensington
de, worried eyes. "Miss? Did you have a nigh
s re
had chosen to sacrifice m
uy my family's safety and my parents' forgiveness. Now I k
ot leave
nd over a life
se from disuse, but it was steady
But we agreed. We're to pass through
stop the
She didn't question me again. She knocked
the door open, letting the biting wind
stepped out into the s
wasn't just p
to take eve
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