Catherine's hand trembled.
The bracelet… the worthless thing after the promise was broken, the one she herself had thrown into the lake, the worthless reminder of everything she had lost… every humiliation she had faced…
How had it returned?
How was it back on her wrist?
She fumbled with the clasp. She didn't want it on her.
It wouldn't open.
Her breath turned shallow as she slipped out of bed and pulled on her robe, her hands still shaking. The world around her dimmed, the weight of memory pressing down… every betrayal, every loss, every humiliation rushing back, dragged to the surface by that single piece of metal.
Maximilian caught her wrist, trying to remove it. "It should be a spell hiding its original form… or—no… is this the spell itself…?" he murmured, thinking aloud.
He couldn't understand how the bracelet had reached this lifetime.
