en's

ors. Cigarettes, cheap incense, and sweat. Three

neck raw. I had done this sixty-seven times by Clement's count a

before I crosse

He kept it quiet, but it still carried straight to the crown. The Mate Rule he'd pus

doors open before I'd

g. Kael already brough

wait a lit

and he left with

orked the buttons closed one at a time, in no hurry to reach a

dropped low, thinking I'd

ory. Everyone alrea

't slo

ugh the doors. Wolves near the aisle folded in

on the dais. Kael stood at m

ee years and still no mate. The council's p

. She went pale and

d her palm against my chest. Her nails were red,

her wrist, felt how easily the bone would

d closer. Her perfume hit me, too strong. "Yo

k at her face. No pull. Nothing. Just heat from

ing too har

ly what you need.

his, and I gave it to them, slow enough that nobody could say

wn the dais

er like that and the council might

t the woman go and closed the space between us. "You've been standing in

acket, Damien. They care who's standing next to

e years, and still nothing to show the council but an empty seat bes

instead. The wine tasted of iron and black cherries, a

ayed level. "The clock doesn't

d I dropped to one knee before her throne. Her skin had thinned enough to show

I touched the edge of he

n something I couldn't see. "She's bleeding,

me w

" An elder cut in. "Th

er's eyes wouldn't h

e sentence

." His voice dropped lower

to my mother

ather chase your mother's ghosts than fa

Kael's knees hit the marble hard enough that the sound car

is split lip. I let it. "I'm stil

and the hall stayed q

my mother

ard the name befor

a