“What?” his father thundered. “That is preposterous! How on earth do you imagine you’ll continue paying for that expensive education of yours? Or hadn’t you thought that far, you stupid boy?”

“I’ve been investing for a few years now. I have a bit of money socked away that you don’t know about, as it turns out. I’ll make my own way in this world. I don’t need you, and I don’t need your title. I’m my own man now. I’m writing my own story.” Jaya beamed at him. “I hope someday you’ll make amends for what you’ve done. And I hope someday you’ll stop being the twisted person you became after Mother died. That’s all I have to say, really. Goodbye, Father.” He pressed “end” and turned to Jaya, his eyes bright. “So that’s that.”

She put her arms around him and he tightened his around her waist, closing his eyes to revel in the feel of her warm weight pushed up against him. The bare pendant hung lifelessly between them as the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, bathing them in its rose-gold light.

“Are you okay?” Jaya asked after a few minutes. “How do you feel?”

“How do I feel?” He pulled back and smiled down at her. “Fucking amazing. Now, do you want to hear my theory about the curse?”

Jaya nodded.

“Mend that which is broken

Repair that which is severed

Or the Emerson name is forsaken

And shall vanish, at last, forever.

“I thought that meant I’d die on my eighteenth birthday, right?”

“Right,” Jaya said, a small crease between her eyebrows.

“But what if it meant I’d emancipate myself instead? What if it meant the Emerson line would end because its last remaining heir would renounce his name and his title?”

The idea had only occurred to him once the sun rose and he realized he was still standing, but it made sense. These last few months, ever since he met Jaya and really understood what his father had stolen from him, he felt like he’d been moving toward this moment. Renouncing his name, emancipating himself, felt like something essential slotting into place, the last piece of the puzzle. He hadn’t been able to undo the curse, but it didn’t matter. He was no longer defined by his father’s narrow constructs, by his cold, unyielding cruelty. Grey had shattered that stone tower; he was finally free.

“If the curse was even real in the first place, that’s a pretty good theory,” Jaya said, a half smile at her lips.