Flames rise higher and higher, and through them I can see the duke’s face—the face of my personal devil. His dream has come true: Elizabeth Blair is burning in the fire—he destroyed her. And now I’m not just afraid; I’m unbearably hurt to understand that I’m dying at his hands. Tears slide down my cheeks… Isn’t it true that in that other world he signed the same sentence for me? Didn’t he put his sprawling signature on it and execute me just as mercilessly as he does here?