around me like

en, shamed girl who'd crawled into darkness. The pain of Ronan's rejectio

ame, and the black cloud of mist that once repelled even the b

-Solara

t the sam

she whispered in me.

" I breat

lsing, sentient. The trees bent ever so gent

. The same voice that called me wh

ckthorn. You are not forsaken. Y

ly. But the truth was clear:

-

me to the ruin of a temple made of obsidian and bone. Vines draped over it li

of magic washed over me. I collapsed to

re-shroud

hat smelt

th a razor-hewed shape t

of wolves standing as a legio

e. Upon it was a ring crafted from the bones o

d out to

ngers closed ove

an unearthly violet glow. Solara erup

e Quee

e room again-old, fe

above thinks you dead. Let the

-

the ruins, the mist

loomed over me earlier now bowed down in subjugation. The curse mark o

ere. But when I reached the edge of the forest on Midnight Howl Pack's border, I s

ol

rees. One of them knelt

way. The trac

ie in the Deadlands. He wants evide

like hunt

s no lon

into the

of

ar

d when he saw me. "

rom my fingers. The forest groaned

o their knees, clu

" I said to the

f mercy. But because fea

I gasped. "His mi

ppeared in

-

led like claws. I stared into the fire, remembering Ronan

do now?" S

my cloak. I slipped it onto my

I said. "One that will

ind screame

an just a spu

next Queen

gn was onl

-

fire's light dre

face was shrouded in starlight, and her t

," she said to me. "Even among those w

demanded. "W

one, walking across the flame

en. And only the broke

burning crown

your pain. Gather the forsaken.

-

ke at

the only noise being the

A figure stood jus

-shouldered, wrapp

oke n

you?" I

hood. His eye

st out," he said. "We've watched you. Yo

rogue?"

"I was. U

kne

a, in a pack that betrayed me. I

my chest. Not

ossib

-

understood. There, a ruined village hid behi

rpened knives. Men stared at the horiz

bore scars

The rejected

I cantered in.

s a girl, barely

f moonlight an

knel

ed for you,

-

ely. My people-indeed, mine-spoke of how

ised them

never ben

howled with

adows was well-

orld would know