ROME

ad held my body rigid for hours finally snapped. Exhaustion hit me

s no

ly plunged into

was thick with the coppery scent of blood and the choking smoke of burning ho

ack, on his knees. His silver-streaked hair was matted with

over him was

and. My

demonic halo in the flickering firelight. His handsome face, which had alw

of my people. He looked directly at me, across the field of slaughter, and his l

thed, the name

hroat, gasping for air. My body was slick with c

the window. A new day. But for m

em away with the back of my hand, my breath coming in harsh sobs. Cr

wrinkle, erasing any sign that I had been there. A ghost in the king's chambers.

as jarring. Here, the halls were narrow, the air was stuffy, and t

n the cavernous, steaming kitchens. I moved like an automaton, a perfect Omega servant, us

me polishing silverware in the pantry. H

o my hand. It was filled with dried, brittle

p and cold as a winter morning. "Boil them and dri

the fragile herbs. "Yes, Matron," I murm

were another brand of humiliation. A declaration that my body was not my own, tha

alytical in their depths. "Did you displease the Alpha King last

No, Matron," I lied smoothly, my

"Do your duty, Anitra," she warned, her voice dropping lower. "

he pantry, leaving me alone w

l mixed with the phantom scent of blood and smoke f

omised to make me the happiest Luna in the world. Instead, he had orchestrated the murder of my

idote to fear. It burned away the last vestiges of the scared gir

. I would do mo

d wait, and I would watch. And one day, I would be the one holding a silve