Daphne's POV
Something cold flickered behind Xander's eyes. The polite mask he wore cracked, revealing something harder underneath.
"Your reckless impulses brought you here," he said, each word deliberate and cutting.
I started to respond, but he continued without pause.
"You never learned your place. That's why you're trapped at this table instead of controlling your own life. That's why your sister lives freely while you're here. That's why everyone who gets close to you ends up paying the price, and they deserve what they get if they can't see the warning signs."
My chest constricted, making it hard to breathe.
"You still don't understand how completely you've fallen," he went on, his voice unnervingly calm. "Because you're already thinking about heat season. You said it out loud, which means you've been obsessing over it."
Heat rushed to my face.
