ra

ch ground the decaying autumn lea

ut of the fog-a hulking Gothic edifice of dark grey ston

ion: the phantom scrape of rough stone against my c

se, begging Father to re-examine the letters, swearing the script was not my own. The war

a halt. The heavy oak door

egas and junior warriors, stood in the cour

ilk dress Kael had bought for me. My sp

he stone steps in a

hair was arranged in a com

Serena

nimous welcome and ran toward me. As she

erena was projecting an elaborate fiction of crushed jasmi

ndercurrent not of sour milk, but of frost-bitten grass, a scent that carried a dry, stin

tly before me and

ry to the assembled crowd. "I have missed you so much. I pr

mine. Her skin was warm, but a fine tr

t stand by my side at my mating ceremony. You will be my mai

estament to her own forgiveness be

rew my hands f

e, though quiet, carried across the courtyard

it cracked, like cheap plaster.

hisper. "He is very weak. He cannot handle sudden shocks. Besides, you jus

me unclean befor

llowed a minuscule fraction of my White Wolf'

gly cold. Serena gasped and recoile

smell like you are recovering from a terrible fever. But yo

rs spread through

have spent ten years studying diseases. I am very good at curing

sucked away, leaving behind a waxy, translucent mask. Her fabricated j

l's voice boo

d glared at Serena.

a," Kael said. "

Kael into the dark, damp-smelling halls of the castle.

open a hea

lood and bitter herbs. The curtains we

was a ruin of the Alpha I remembered. His hair w

s eyes and l

as a dry rustle of leaves, devoid

e of his bed and op

ck your pul

garded me with a complicated gaze, a mixtu

d. "Ten years ago. The Royal Guards were watching us.

ook his wrist with a firm, clinical grip a

She stood near the wall and began to sniffle. She wa

oftly. "I tried to welco

ergy, but as a change in atmospheric pressure, a heavy

pe of her boots on the stone as the weight of my

r's pale arm. "Or I will leave this castle right now,

face told me he finally understood: I was not here