Winnie's POV.
When we successfully formulated KingsCharm, I felt the same thrum of excitement rush through me I used to experience in the academy.
Well, almost. Developing a biosensing tattoo ink for the King family to profit off of witches suffering from madness doesn't feel the same as, say, working to cure cancer.
That's what I used to do. Before.
Before, I worked in the biomedical engineering research lab co-run by Harvard and MIT, and I really did work on a cure for cancer. Then someone tried to carve me into pieces in an alley in Cambridge just off campus. I survived, but every time I tried to go back to the familiar streets and buildings, I couldn't.
So now I live in New York and work for KingsGuard in product development helping make one of the richest families in the world...richer. The benefits package is freaking fantastic and there are always cookies in the break room. It's a good second option.
That is what my life is now--a second option.