e results in ninety to a hundred days. If not, it could be a cold eternity,"

e got the vitality of a young wolf, Collins. I expect y

of autumn settled over the Kingdom of Valeria. The

to the edge of the massive bed, I reached for a tin of heavy winter salve I'd picked up at the vil

de me. "The mountain air is getting dry. You want some of t

am. I began to work it into his skin, tracing the rugg

ull silver of a sleeper anymore; they were a searing, m

h hitched, sticking in my throat. I was used to his eyes opening-it happened alm

my ribs. I forced my hands to stay steady, continuing the rhyt

d rambling, a habit I'd picked up

our wolf was broken or your body couldn't handle the heat. But looking at you now? I don't buy it

, lingering pat through the fabric of his shirt. It w

ted through the air-a sound that didn't

tumbled off the bed. My eyes went wide, fixed on hi

ow emptiness was gone, replaced by a searing cocktail

oor like a pup fleeing a silver trap. "Patric

a frantic drumbeat, and I could ba

arter w

the word he had forced through his throat. Even though his voice was r

me and demanded t

host in a shell, a dying legend. I had never actually prepared for the moment

g. The silence of the estate was shattered by

break, Ethan!" Margaret cried, her f

didn't quite reach his eyes. "You have no idea the shadow that fell

a literal miracle. There were no neural markers for this yesterday. Now that Master Ethan is vocaliz

ve out, and she fainted into Henry's arms. He qui

ned in the room, while I hovered by the doorfra

adboard now, his shoulders broad and imposing even after months of atrophy.

s voice a deep, vibrating thre

erence. "Master Ethan, this is the mate Margaret a

ruel line. His voice was flat, devo

ut of my s