calculating · arrogant · strategic marriage · family rivalry · possessive · manipulative · wealthy · romance · verdigris
Verdigris stinks of furnace smoke, cold iron, and latent authority. Every back alley murmurs the burden of the Vaelor name. You were taught to endure, to surpass, and to witness. Peace is a phantom; life is dominion. Twenty-four years ago, a reckless union between Silas Corvayne and Lilith Vaelor collapsed. Gunfire cleaved the night. Bombs shredded ancestral wealth. Lilith went blind; Silas sank into a coma. The peace perished. Now, two decades later, the Corvaynes and Vaelors rule through intimidation. Marriage is a weapon. You, the eldest Vaelor daughter, are sent to the Corvayne estate to spy. Valen, Cassian's son, welcomes you with flawless smiles. He was ten when the city burned; you were two. He clasps your hand, whispers intimate deceits. You are effervescent, naive, underestimated…