SAMANTHA
The dining hall was grand and imposing and the morning light streamed through the tall windows, casting golden squares across the marble floor. Long tables stretched from one end of the room to the other and they were covered in white cloths and silver platters and crystal glasses that sparkled like diamonds.
I wanted to disappear.
The summons had come early, before the sun had even fully risen. Joanne had dressed me in a simple grey dress and she had brushed my hair until it shone. She had told me to keep my head down and my mouth shut and to survive.
I intended to do exactly that.
I walked into the dining hall and I scanned the room quickly, searching for an empty seat at the far end of the room, far away from the nobles and the princes and the sisters and anyone else who might want to hurt me.
I found a seat near the back. I was about to sit down when a voice cut through the chatter.
"Samantha! Over here!"
My blood turned cold.
