The Wages of Sin

*Isla*

“You did the right thing,” Poppy says to me the next day over breakfast as I am contemplating whether or not she is correct.

For the last eighteen hours or so, there’s been a manhunt all over the castle as Commander Pepelos is being searched for like a rabid dog on the loose. He hasn’t been found yet, and I hope that he will not be because I don’t want to have to explain to Maddox the truth of the situation—that he is my cousin. For now, Antony is hiding in a cabin in the woods about eighty miles from here. It’s not the same one I was almost killed in, but from his description of it, the place isn’t much better.

I only know where he is because he has sent me hundreds of messages over the mind-link begging me to come with him to the islands, telling me about how the weather will be bad soon, and if we don’t go now, we’ll have to wait until later. Later—when I am about to give birth.

He is adamant that this is a good thing, that I should leave my “cheating boyfriend” behind and g