lyn

r into the Dowager's quiet side pavilion. The rooms smelled of expensive calming incense

wakened White Wolf healing energy and knelt to massage the Dowager's knees, which ached from old silver injuries.

r the clan banquet. My eldest sister-in-law, Rosalind, entered holding her one

to beg for sacred snow-lotus water from the temple outside the cit

ys glare at me. "Kalia has a kind heart, willing to her own spiritual energy for our pack's heirs

ase don't say that. I'd gladly shatter my bones for the Burks fortress

lia saved your sister-in-law and our eldest grandson. Be more fo

ne called me a jealous madwoman. Yet during my eighteen years as a ghost, I had seen the secret temple records: Kalia hadn't g

s; I admire her too much to ever hold a grud

y to ask that the Rosewood Wing's deed be permanently transferred to Kali

ia under the chandelier light. "Looking closely tonight, I noticed that Cousin Kalia's brow bon

at

and crashed onto her porcelain plate, th

with sudden unease. With my heightened White Wolf senses, I caught the sharp, sour stench

l as she lurched to her feet, her cheek twitching violently. "A niece res

and forth between Camila's contorted face and Kalia's stiff features. In ancient werewolf law, bloodline purity was sacred; adu

ghed weakly to change the subject. "Auntie, please don't argue with Cousin. The Winter S

wager asked, looking away from Cam

s to contact the High Priest of the High Temple of the Moon Goddess! She spent five hundred pure gold coins t

le was the spiritual heart of the kingdom, and its Winter Solstice feast-brewe

ur territory's tax revenue. Kalia is thoughtful," the Dowag

s the banquet ended and we stepped out into the lantern-lit corridor. Five hundred gold coin