Who are you?

Calvert whimpered. "W-Who… who are you?"

Aurora chuckled. "Now you remember to ask," she said, shaking her head. "Too late."

She stepped forward and crouched near his face.

"Now answer me," she said, her voice low. "What else did Lily promise you?"

Calvert coughed, pain tearing through his chest. He was pale, blood soaking the sheets beneath him. His ego had vanished.

"She… she promised me a deal…" he said, barely above a whisper.

Aurora leaned in closer. "What deal?"

"A deal with the Queen's Group…" he said, and closed his eyes in shame.

At that, Aurora straightened up, her eyes burning with silent fury as she looked down at him.

"What is it with everyone," she muttered, her voice low but trembling with rage, "treating me like some kind of thing… something to trade for money?"

Her fists clenched at her sides. She wasn't just angry—she was disgusted. Disgusted at Stephen. At Lily. At Alexander. At all of them.