Faris Zagerfield sat in the opulent drawing room of the annex mansion, the rich fabrics and ornate furnishings doing little to ease the growing sense of disdain festering within him. His eyes flicked briefly to the girl seated beside him, Mary-Claire Zagerfield, and he had to suppress the urge to sneer. Her presence was an unwelcome reminder of everything wrong in his life at the moment. How could someone so wretched, so insignificant, share the same bloodline as him?