#Chapter 31 – Borrowed Blood

Lila I stopped looking at Damon three days ago. I couldn’t afford the distraction, and Damon Sinclair was definitely distracting. If I was going to survive the next trial, I needed to become someone else. Someone smarter, who knew what fork to use, how to speak in riddles that sounded like respect, and how to manipulate a conversation without touching a weapon. I needed to become my half-sister Elena Ashford. And Elena definitely wouldn’t have been sneaking glances at the Lycan King like a girl with something to confess. So I avoided him like the plague, even if it made me feel like something vital was missing. I walked the palace corridors with my shoulders back, eyes forward, posture so perfect it hurt. I stayed late in the etiquette rooms, memorizing names and titles and family alliances. I spent hours in the archives, poring over legislation I barely understood. I filled the cracks in my story with protocol and guesswork and hope. What I didn’t do was look at