After walking away from the palace, Julian paused at the bottom of the massive stone steps, his gaze drifting toward the distant clouds.
A cold smile twisted his lips.
Finally, he understood what real power felt like. Everyone who had crushed him, who had ground him under their heel—they were all nothing but dirt beneath his boots now.
Each step he descended, he counted mentally.
Just a few thousand steps separated Bella and him. But these towering palace walls divided them—making her Mrs. Montgomery while he became Leopold's puppet. Still, he would keep pushing forward, anything to get closer to her.
If this position wouldn't shield her, then he would become a ghost in the shadows, guarding her from the darkness.
Someday, his moment would come. Bella would be his again.
Within days, the imperial court transformed completely.
The Sinclair dynasty collapsed in a single night. Franklin lost his noble rank, his entire household banished a thousand miles from the capital.
