city

ng the manor in sh

s on the walls. The air was thick with the scent of ceremonial incense, a heady mix of s

by the ancient texts, I drank a small goblet of warmed wine, infused

te. A warmth spread through my limbs, making m

ok around the room before bowing her h

lone wi

to soften. He looked younger, more vulnerable. I could smell him now, a scent that was unique

bird trapped in a cage. This was wrong. A d

ashed in my mind. Gwyn's sneer. Euan's co

hand trembled as I reached for him. I hesitated for a fraction of a second, then ge

bolic sharin

t. A tremor. A deep, internal shudder th

my breath held, searching for any other sign. A

fectly still, lost

he light, I told my

ide from my shoulders, pooling at my feet. The coo

lay beside him, not touching him yet, just feeling the faint

ite required the female to be the

e. I focused on the deal I had made. The power I had clai

desire. It was a sacrifice. A cold, calcula

ent, clinical, punctuated only by my own ragged breaths and the whisper of

sically forged, somethi

came from him. A wave of raw, potent energy surged from his body into mine, gripping something far

like a

ck with sweat, my hair clinging to my face. I

oked at him. He was unchanged. The sa

r me, but I pushed it away. There was

in me, I might now carry the

atest

el

no beginnin

voice. No command that could reach my limbs. Only a vast,

ealer's murmured warning. My mother's voice, fierce with grief. They

not answ

even turn

o long that the absence had

hing touch

er herbs. A trem

locked room I could no longer enter, yet that small tou

t foll

ean beneath sorrow. Not Brianda. Not any

ash, silk, bloo

ed to

ng an

ed to

ound

th where my wolf had fallen si

re through the void with brutal, living force, dragging

fol

bre

shock of another soul

as af

humiliation, grim resolve. A woman making a weap

e should hav

ps it

o go. It struck the walls

wolf a

ed through the dark like thunder under the earth. The creature that had ignore

a

ot thought in the way men thought. It w

i

eath linen and silence, but inside

e since the ambus