e, and Wren stood at the edge of the small gathering feeling the weight of it s

nce the mourners had scattered

't," Ki

e of me. Two men are

e close to unraveling it." Kian's voice was firm, unwavering, though the exhaustion in his face told her the nigh

still clinging to everything, and Wren found herself, for the first time sin

trained to end your family, not to stand beside you while someo

ow to keep a mate alive against an enemy who's had fifteen years to plan for exactly this moment. We're both improvis

t to his jaw that told Wren more bad ne

d wager it isn't good. And there's something else." He held out a folded scrap of parchment, edges singed

carefully, and Wren watched

s it,"

ind, half-burned, but I can make out enough of it." He turned it toward her,

vermouth - pending. As

"That's not just Duskwood. The

et almost ten years ago, whole settlement abandoned overnight, officially blamed on a p

g," Wren said. "Another fire.

ifteen years ago and has spent all this time simply protecting that secret. I don't think that's true anymore. I think Duskwood was

e tree line beyond the garden wall, Wren could have sworn, for just a moment, she felt eyes watch

she said quietly. "

Wren recognized, with a small, unwilling ache in her chest, as the exact same look she'd

ow many packs are on that list," he

here beyond the garden wall, unseen, a shadow that had once been a boy on a hillside watching D