SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan)

Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Three hours later, Rose gazed out the window of a private dining room in Montreal's most exclusive restaurant. Snow fell gently outside, illuminated by street lamps and café lights. Inside, candles flickered on th "You seem surprised to be enjoying yourself," Herod observed, watching her over the rim of his wine glass.

Rose turned from the window. "I am, a little. I haven't thought about anything but revenge for so long. It feels strange to just... exist."

"Vengeance is consuming," Herod agreed. "It leaves little room for ordinary pleasures."

"Is that why you collect books? To remember there's life beyond revenge?"

He considered this, "Perhaps. Though I began collecting long before Victoria Kane entered my life."

Rose studied him in the candlelight. Without the hard edges of their planning sessions, Herod Preston revealed different

facets, cultured, thoughtful, even charming in his precise way.

"Tell me about the brother you lost," she said softly.

Herod's expression tightened momentarily, then relaxed. "Charles was the better of us. Kinder. More idealistic. He believed in love, in goodness. I always saw

the darker side of human nature."

"And yet Victoria targeted him first."

"Because he was connected to what she loved most, her daughter." Herod swirled the wine in his glass. "The cruellest revenge strikes not at you directly, but at what you cherish."

Rose thought of Camille, of the Phoenix Grid, of how precisely

their attack had been aimed at what her sister valued most. "We're following her playbook, aren't we? Using Victoria's

own methods against her."

We move with calculation, patience." "A dangerous combination,"

as naturally gifted at manipulation as you." Rose might once have taken this as an

my charm could open doors that remained closed to others. That people believe what they want to believe, see what they want

to see tonight?"

question, who never looked for the truth beneath the performance. "I don't know," she admitted, surprising herself with her honesty. "I'm not sure

Herod suggested. "Who Rose Lewis is when the masks come

arrived, exquisite plates of food too artful to immediately disturb. The waiter poured more wins - retreated,

faces," Rose said after a moment. "The grateful adopted daughter. The supportive sister. The perfect fiancée. Sometimes

is," Herod said with unexpected

your determination, your refusal to accept defeat.

hadn't expected. In Herod's eyes, her darkness wasn't something to

only want the

made her look up from her plate. “I see your ruthlessness, your capacity for vengeance, and I find

Rose felt her pulse quicken. She was accustomed to inspiring desire in men, but always for the mirage she created. Never for her true self, especially not t "Why

in hatred rarely survive. Because I wanted to know if there could be

challenged, though she already

across the table, his fingers brushing hers in a touch too deliberate to be accidental. "What do

she'd

Dangerous in ways that

she said carefully, "that mixing business and

doesn't frighten me," Herod replied. "Does it

backed down from a challenge in her life. She turned her hand beneath

"No," she said simply.

in Herod's eyes, a heat that matched what she felt building within herself. For a moment, they remained perfectly still, connected by that single point of contact, the air between them

nodded, suddenly certain.

blanket the city. Behind her, sheets lay tangled on the bed, evidence of boundaries crossed, new territories explored. She w Herod appeared in the doorway, two glasses of whiskey in and. The moonlight silvered his bare chest, highlighting the unexpected strength of his body. Rose accepted the offered drink, their fingers brushing in

her head. "No. Surprises, maybe,

"What surprises you?"

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