Adrian, too, was surprised, his eyes filled with gratitude as he looked toward my father.
“Master, thank you for your generosity.”
He thought all this was dowry Mr. Lane prepared for his marriage.
He had no idea—
once the ceremony ended, he would be formally cut off from the Lane family.
From then on, his life would have nothing to do with us.
On the wedding day, I sat stone-faced as they exchanged rings and kissed.
Stella blushed shyly, rising on tiptoe to kiss him—
but Adrian turned his head away.
Instead, his gaze drifted slowly toward me, heavy with something complicated.
I lowered my eyes, sipped my tea, and ignored him.
Just then, my sixth foster brother burst into the hall:
“Master, Lucas Vaughn, heir of the Vaughn family, has arrived.”
Adrian’s head snapped up, his eyes clouded with confusion.
“Lucas Vaughn? Wasn’t he our sworn enemy from five years ago?”
I toyed with a walnut in my hand, smiling coldly.
So Adrian could remember Lucas, his old enemy—
yet somehow forgot me.
How amusing.
But the world is nothing if not fickle.
The man who once vowed to give me his life forgot me.
And the man who was once my enemy was about to become my husband.
“I’ll go greet him,” I said briskly, standing.