ia'

in a blur of grea

hile the pack prepared for the Alpha's arrival. The sun ro

thing wa

Servants whispering in corners. Guards exchanging looks they did not think I could

whispers

one did not rea

not hi

e demanded to see every

t scr

s a difference. Concern means you care. Problem means you bleed. And I ha

in the root cellar with the rats. I had screamed for hours. No one came. That was the night I s

rubbed

hands were raw and my arms ached. The water in the basin turned gray from grime, and I dumped it out and filled it again. The

to the list b

hundred and eleven. The

something. But what? And why would it involve me? I was

y wanted t

ienne had been hurting me for fifteen y

e, barely slowing. "They say the Alpha threw a chair,"

one before I c

half an inch beneath my feet. I knew, in the way you know a bone is broken b

ut it would not change anything, and su

ta grabb

said. "Co

for me to dry my hands. She dragged me out of the kitchen, thr

Dead Alphas. Dead Lunas. Their painted eyes followed me as Marta pu

waiting for me in the main hall. I did not know why the Alpha

pening, I was no

with a rack of dresses and shove

rry. The Alpha w

lipped and breathless, like she

up behind my throat. Because arguing only made things worse, and

-but it was cleaner than what I had been wearing. I pulled it over my head,

me toward t

lf to herself. "Celeste is not his mate. Now he wants to see

questions. I

l was packed

catching the torchlight and throwing fractured rainbows across the walls. I had never been in

ay, I w

in the room was

-sweat mixed into a smell that turned my stomach. Someone coughed directly into my

on my ugly face, on my too-big

is

k at

not belo

ht. I did not

ere I

ies pressed together, voices buzzing like flies over something dead. Some l

sed. But I kept my head down. Shoulders hunched. The same pos

th

oked

I sa