ra

they closed, they stirred up a stale tang of ancient rot and rust, and a cold draft sc

led my thin shawl tighter around my shoulders, breat

Stop rig

ard me, her heavy leather boots thudding aggressively against the stones.

arm. Her grip was a casual, painful display of a War

y pulled my arm aw

e, Lyra," I said, k

round as if the King's guards were hiding in the shadows. "T

wild, and untamed. She was a perfect echo of our late mother, a

u want to run in the forest and bathe in the blood of Rogues. I want

pen, completely stunned. She had never

ck," she said, though her voi

llowed them into those woods, desperate to be the daughter my father wanted, and r

id softly. "And I am done

shing in her eyes for

hen the winter storms come," I explained. "I am an Omega. My bi

For a second, I wanted to turn back and see the bewilderment in her eyes, but I ended up

not a contest; it was a crucible of beauty and cunning, gathering the most ambitious female

arning carved into my memory-every face, every betrayal, every momen

afty chamber and stepped inside.

he was not merely a tyrant to be feared-he was a storm I would have to learn to weather, or be destroyed by. The dream had shown me the g