There would have been plans already in motion, channels already opened, alliances already forged in blood and moonlit vows. Maya would have understood, from the beginning, that the arrangement was not about her, it was about what the arrangement could build for Silver Ridge.
The unspoken implication hung in the air, too heavy to be dismissed and too dangerous to be named directly.
Because beneath Richard's words lay a truth far more uncomfortable than any external threat from Nightshade's territory.
