IT WAS HER.

SHE WAS THE MARK.

THE GIRL I'D VOWED TO PROTECT WHEN I BECAME THE SHADOW...

Was the next name on Mahan's list, and it had me questioning everything. It had been seven years since I'd seen her, and now she was betrothed to Captain Luke Ramsey. She would never choose me over him, and she shouldn't. He was an accomplished captain with the world at his fingertips. I was an orphan with a shady past. I had nothing to offer her but lies about who I was and apologies I hoped she'd never know she deserved. Even so, two things were keeping a small spark of my hope alive. One was the way Kalista looked at me. The other was the way she looked at him. If I was seeing clearly, she didn't love him. I remembered how she looked at me when she saw me in the stables. I had seen it in her eyes. Delight.