ped before I reach

ream, at least, is alive. The silence that fol

up the steps. "Every whisper. Every heartbeat. Don't speak unless he speaks to you. D

I asked. "When

t stopped

lls ever stops hurting. The king's curse killed six priestesses before you came. Each one was blessed. Each one was certain." His old eyes moved ov

father made sure I knew my exact

man's face. Pity, maybe. In a place

st since." He opened the great doors, and warm air spilled out, smelling of candlewax and something fa

marble floors, tapestries stitched with gold thread, chandeliers still burning - and everything w

veryone?" I

e woke. The servants who stayed..." He made a small, tired gesture. "There are perhaps forty of us left, in a p

," I repea

ly." A pause.

I said,

rage." Father Marek's voice didn't change a

e asking any further qu

ilver hair and a face like a locked door. Her eyes did a slow circuit

ilverclaw finally

me is

ing has not fed in four days. The fevers took him this mornin

nything.* Like I was a poultice.

refuse?"

, for the first time - and something almost lik

ugh that I could smell the candlewax on her robes. "But you should know what refusal means for us, child. The king dies. When the king dies, the curse loses its host, and the mist comes for everything it can reach. Everyth

le

aid softly. "He is past asking, child. He t

lder than any lock I'd ever seen - and ope

. It is not cruelty. It is so that when he wakes, whatever

?" My voice sounded f

earn why six priestesses' names are c

oor o

ped th

n the drapes and lay across the floor like a drawn blade. Somewhere i

that comes off a fevered body three times a man's size, and with it a smell

f should have been. For eighteen

re. A wolf would have told me what to do

s voice in my head: *healing hands are steady hands,

ean

sed th

clenched like a fist, a throat moving with each drowning breath. Veins of black crawled up from beneath the bandages o

beautiful man I had ever seen, in the way that a f

yes o

wide with fever. They fixed on me the instant I was in

the room moved except the bl

rt sends me another one." A smile crawled across his face, and there was nothing of humor in it at all. "Doe

ds, steady voice. *Touch it like you mean it.* "I was told the king

nes who ever touched me without burning." His head turned on the pillow, toward me, slow and deliberate, and the

ct I owned t

ames carved by a kitchen fire. I thought of my fathe

- *you are done being sold. From tonight, ever

ed into

much faster than a dying man's hand sh

ething else entirely. Every nerve in my neck lit up screaming, and I heard my own pulse crack and stutter, and the las

Lycan King told me. "