KayElle

Lady Seraphina Evernight never imagined her wedding day would feel like a death sentence. Forced to marry the ruthless Duke Adrian Valemont, the very man suspected of destroying her family, she vows to uncover the truth and make him pay. But the deeper she digs into Adrian’s past, the more she realizes that her father’s downfall was no simple betrayal—secrets buried in blood and deceit may shatter everything she thought she knew.

Yet Adrian is not the monster she expected. Behind his cold eyes lies a man battling demons of his own, and the more she seeks revenge, the more she finds herself tangled in a web of court intrigue, deadly whispers, and a desire she never anticipated.

In a marriage built on vengeance, can love ever take root? Or will their vows be written in thorns and ruin?

VOW OF THORNS

Chapter 22: A Name in the Dark

Seraphina had always believed that silence was a weapon.

In the right hands, it could be more lethal than a blade, more damning than a lie.

And tonight, Adrian wielded it with unnerving precision.

She had seen him in the halls, in the candlelit corridors of Valemont Manor, always just beyond her reach. And yet, the weight of his gaze followed her like a specter, a shadow lingering where it did not belong.

But Seraphina was no stranger to secrets. And she had come here to uncover one of her own.

She now had something more than suspicion—she had proof Evelyne had been searching for something. And whatever she had been close to uncovering had been enough to get her killed.

One name had been scrawled in the margins of the old records: Laurent.

Seraphina did not believe in coincidences.

As she stood outside the manor's vast library, listening to the quiet sound of a glass setting down, she knew—Adrian Valemont was just as entangled in this web as she was.

He stood at the tall windows, half-illuminated by the moonlight, a drink in hand. He did not turn as she entered, but she knew he had heard her.

"You should be asleep," he murmured.

A ghost of a smirk. "We both know sleep does not come easily in this house."

"Especially not for those with something to hide."

That wiped the smirk off his face.

Seraphina moved closer, folding her arms. "You've been avoiding me."

"Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

A beat of silence. Then—"No. I expected you to."

Her pulse quickened. "Then tell me why."

Adrian took a slow sip of his drink before speaking. "Because some truths cannot be undone, Seraphina. Some questions should never be answered."

She stepped even closer. "I found Evelyne's records. She was close to something—something that involved the nobility, something dangerous. And she wrote one name. Laurent."

Seraphina's voice lowered. "She was investigating him before she died, wasn't she?"

Adrian's grip on his glass tightened. "You assume too much."

"Do I?" She lifted her chin. "Or are you afraid that I see too clearly?"

For a long moment, he said nothing.

Then, in a voice so quiet it almost did not reach her—

The name sent a chill through her.

Duke Laurent. The man who had taunted Adrian at the ball. The man who had whispered cruel accusations that had sent him into a barely contained rage.

"What did Evelyne find?" Seraphina pressed.

Adrian turned to her fully, his silver eyes dark, unreadable. "Something that cost her life. And if you keep pulling at these threads, it may cost yours, too."

If Laurent had been involved in Evelyne's death, this was no longer just a personal tragedy for Adrian.

It was part of something much larger.

Seraphina's voice was like steel. "Then we are chasing the same enemy."

Adrian studied her, his expression caught between frustration and something deeper—something that almost looked like resignation.

"Yes," she said firmly. "And whether you like it or not, we will find the truth together."

A long silence stretched between them. Then, softly—

And with that, Adrian Valemont left her standing in the dark.

And she had no intention of leaving this secret buried.

Not when the truth—her truth—was this close to being unraveled.