“I promise you. It’ll be you and me forever one day, no matter what.”

Voices sound in the distance.

“Go!” he hisses again.

I quickly glance behind me, and when I look back, the only friend I’ve ever had, but never even seen… is gone.

I quickly stand and rush back to the flowerbed, but the door is thrown open the moment I reach it, so I jump back to my feet, lowering my head as my father’s shiny shoes come into view, another pair planting just beside them.

“Eyes.”

I look up, forcing my gaze not to travel to the man at my father’s right, but then my father steps aside, and suddenly the man is before me.

He’s handsome, tall and trim, and wears a smile, one that meets the corners of his pretty green eyes.

“Hello,” he says so softly that the muscles in my body relax.

I swallow. “Hello.”

His gaze falls to the dirt on my fingers, and I quickly hide them behind my back.

He glances beyond me at my garden. “You enjoy flowers?”

I push my hair over my shoulders as I nod, and his strong stare follows the movement.

“Then I will give you all the flowers in the world.” His smile spreads and he turns to my father. “You have yourself a deal, Graven.” He hands him an envelope. “You’ll find your other daughters’ locations inside.”

My eyes widen and I take a half a step forward. “I have a sister?” Hope, if I had to guess, is what expands in my chest, making it hard to breathe.

But the hard, empty glare of my father swings my way, and it’s gone as quick as it comes.

I freeze, shuffle back, and lower my head.

He scoffs, turning to the man. “Walk out with her, and you don’t get to bring her back. She’ll be your burden from here on out, Brayshaw.”

Brayshaw?

Is that his name?

“No,” the man responds gently as he steps toward me, his fingers sliding beneath my chin, bringing my eyes to his. He smiles. “She’ll be my savior, and one day, my bride. Speak to or of her like this again, Graven, and I’ll be forced to make sure you regret it.”

My heart beats crazy as I try and make sense of their words, but all that clicks is ‘bride.’

He bends so we’re eye level and grips my hands in his. “Never lower your eyes when a man’s meet yours, never look away.” His gaze roams mine. “Never cower, sweet girl. Your eyes, a deep, daunting… perfect brown, are your power, and I’m going to teach you how to use them.”

Not five minutes later, I was in a car for the first time, with nothing but the clothes on my back and shoes on my feet.

Mero had given up Raven and her mother’s location, something Donley Graven had been searching for since the day her mother disappeared, and in exchange, my father gave him me.

Just like that, I went from the worthless, ignored, ghostly girl in the gated garden to a golden puppet, the highest valued, most precious tool in a stranger of a man’s world.

I developed early and never looked my age, always older. I never had a chance to play with other children when I was young, though I knew more existed, the sounds of their laughter echoed on the other side of the wall, and then there was the boy who dared to look beyond it. Because of this, I was too mature for my own good, nothing but guards and a tutor to learn from, and once I turned eight, I was given a television.

Mero must have seen it in my eyes at ten, a child who never lived as one, a girl desperate for more.

He was proud of his new ‘property,’ and quickly, I became his pawn, did as he asked, found ways to trick who he instructed until secrets spilled from the mouths of some of the most powerful men he could find. Men who held high positions, men who were forced to leave Brayshaw, traitors to the family and pure outsiders. Jobs for purpose and some simply for payment.

We had ruses, ways of gaining the truth and I always wanted to give him what he asked for, so I was extremely inventive. I studied people, trained myself to see more than the average eye, hear what wasn’t said. It became a game, something to focus on, a way to earn affection I came to crave.

Secrets were my purpose.

I was blackmail.

It wasn’t until I turned my back on the man who freed me from the prison I wasn’t aware I was living in that my life changed.

I know I’m strong, I know I can handle this place, but I want more than that.

I can’t go back to being the little girl I once was, completely dispensable.

Knowledge, it gave me purpose, power.

It’s ironic, how the only thing to ever offer a shred of color is the exact reason my world’s been painted gray.

Holding onto secrets in a place like this has done the opposite of what I’ve understood them to.

I hold no leverage, only lies.

I feel no pride, I’m buried in shame.

I hate myself more than I hate the man who molded me this way.

How weak you are to become what someone else asks of you?

I can be different here. An asset instead of a threat.

I want that, to be useful.

Worth something.

I sigh, licking my lips as I pull a full breath through my nostrils.

The shuffle of feet catches my attention, and I roll my neck against the chair cushion to find Rolland, the man who helped me hide in plain sight, walking up.

I never told him who I really was, daughter of the man he hated, only how I grew inside the walls of the Graven estate until I was traded.

I never told him to who.

Rolland slides his hands in his pockets, looking across the orchards in front of us. “You don’t have to stay out here.”

“Yes, I do.”

“This is your home, too.”

I nod. “It will be.”

A small smile finds his lips, and he slowly lowers into the seat beside me. “I’m glad you feel that way.”

The cloud of uncertainty surrounding me must be suffocating him the same as he says, “I assume you realize now.”

“That you knew I was a product of the enemy, Graven, by dirty blood, all along?” My eyes slide his way a moment, but I quickly look away.

“I’ll admit, I wasn’t positive, but I had a feeling, maybe even a bit of hope, you were the child of the woman I tried to free.”

“What does that mean?” I ask him, having never actually held a conversation worth anything with Maria. I had learned bits and pieces of this, but nothing means a damn thing when it doesn’t come directly from the mouth who knows the full truth. “Free her, how exactly?”

“Your mother worked as a Graven maid, she was... their property, as far as property goes, and Donley threw her out like garbage when he learned she was pregnant with a girl when all he was after was a son. Maybell brought her to me, and I offered her a home, a safe place to make a living and raise her child, you, once you were born.” He looks to me. “Unfortunately, she never had the chance. I believe you know why...”

“He took me from her hospital bedside.” I shrug. It’s not sad, it’s reality. “Why’d you let her back in your home after that?”

His forehead creases and he glances away. “Guilt, maybe. I’m not sure anymore.”

“And that was enough for you to slip me in past your sons?”

“I gave them a file as I do every time we add to the group homes. All I did was simplify your past.”