myself to the s

ming it, close enough that I felt the words mo

up off the stone and found my arms wouldn't coo

Oracle collapsed the moment she looked at her. Th

front of me. I ha

touches

eath

ee

called me that. Not treat

ee

my chest where I hadn't realized

ttered, I hated ev

tyard we

e he'd sto

e'd calle

had exp

of a

e hundred wolves who'd just hear

d, though his voice had lost some of

nnot explain what she saw. Until she

they'd raised toward me, frozen between the Elder's order an

order

ery spear dropped at once. No

ver she'd seen written on my skin. By the time I looked down at my own wrist, the mark was

, my voice thinner than I wanted

"I don't know what i

lf swearing on the Goddess herself that the mark had been real. The Head Elder trailed us as far as the doors, still arguing that I should be imprisoned until the Oracle could be questioned. Kael

ned the moment they saw him, until the door closed behind us and it

I said, because the silence had gone on lo

es

use you w

ng move behind his eyes, the same something I'

to do with duty,

sn't an

only one

a great deal for you. No cursed bride. No broken tradition.

at you want

er than I meant it to. "I'm

t becomes inconvenient isn't a king worth following." He paused, and something in his voice sh

nly re

reason I'l

ush further, to see what else might come loose if I asked the right question. I didn't get the chance. He'd alrea

n without flinching, who'd defied a Goddess for the sake of a treaty and now couldn't seem

I said instea

dy moving toward the door. "Do

hether that was meant to hurt, or whether it was

rs in a pale, unbroken sheet, brighter than moonlight had any right t

ad at the altar. Then every candle in the room went out, one by one, as if something unseen were moving between t

when I sa

ary animal held. I didn't move. I don't know how long we stared at each other across that distance bef

was nothing. I

rushed across

s flew

standing b

gone the instant my mind caught up to what I was seeing. A

breathing and the too-quiet room. I checked the balcony doors. Locked. I

hat room hadn't come

f a great many things before sleep finally took

dark drop, dried on the sheet beside my hand, and a thin

inger when I heard voices outside my d

Kael's voic

red the Queen's

answered him. His Beta, maybe. "Not

u know someone

ell enough to move through it without a single guard noticing. A

t the stone. Every instinct told me they were talking about me, about t

spoke again, his voice had dropped into something I hadn't heard from him before,

t mark dangerous enough to risk the Que

ou want do

out

my heart pounding harder than it had all morning. This was no longer about an

standing there, my back against the cold wall, my mind racing throu

op

an't g

right, one hand braced against the wall. She looked as though she'd dragged herself out of death itself to reach thi

them smell

her eyes rolled back and she collapsed ag

complete

ful distance he kept around

since I'd met him

of

f the

ome for me once my