Bound By Deals

The halls were unfamiliar, and I hated that I didn’t know the way back. I hated the clean air, the smooth stone beneath my feet, hated the cold bite of the chains weighing down my wrists. Each clink of metal sounded too loud in the silence, a reminder that, after a year of slavery in Karnak, I was still a prisoner. Maybe in nicer surroundings, but a prisoner all the same.I could feel the eyes of the guards watching me. They flanked me on either side, their armor gleaming under the torches that lined the walls, their hands ready at the hilts of their swords. As if I were still a threat. The thought brought a bitter smile to my lips. The Great Thalia Blackwood, was brought low by chains and a year in the mines. How far I had fallen.But I kept my head high. I might have been shackled, but I wasn’t broken. Not yet.Captain Marcus Steele walked beside me, his grip on my arm firm but not painful. He had barely spoken since they’d dragged me from the mines, but I’d watched him closely. The

The cold stone beneath me was hard, but that discomfort was nothing compared to the tension hanging in the room. My wrists burned where the chains dug into them, but I held my chin high, refusing to show any weakness. Callum Silvermark stood before me, as infuriatingly handsome as any prince had the right to be. Dark hair, perfect posture, those irritatingly beautiful sapphire eyes that sparkled with amusement as if he had the entire world in his palm. Maybe he did. But I wasn’t part of that world anymore. I had been dragged out of it, dirt and scars marking the distance between who I was and who I had become.“As quiet as the grave,” I said, my voice sharp with sarcasm, meeting his gaze with a mocking smile.Callum’s lips twitched as though he might smile, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave me that look—the one that made it clear he knew he had power here. He always would, standing in his silks and gold, untouched by the grime of Karnak.“Quiet, yes,” he said softly, taking a step close