a P

t my orders, leaving me alone

w, looking past the manicured gardens

her's

I had been comp

chronic illness

g curse, fed to her

ss, the memory of my mother wasting away, d

ng the stairs to my own room and hea

e walls lined with portraits of gener

young woman with my same silver

Clara, in

her name was inscribed

e "Cole

red it for

formidable Coleman Pack

he become

s under siege in my last life,

nd, the pieces of a puzzle I w

hidden beneath the s

eyes, focu

senses, honing my conne

a faint whisper, was

third brother, Domenic White, commandi

. It's m

se came ru

y are you using the emer

ineage Affirmation Ritual is in three days. You have to b

feel his

bitch Elois? Has she been bot

your most elite warriors. And

ommand I'd heard our fath

ment, stunned by the a

be there in

wave of dizzines

and to an Alpha-ranke

t the wall and made my w

ervants stood gu

lazy, disresp

esting. The doctor said s

rough my ve

backed by a will t

tepped

open th

of medicinal herbs hit

, the heavy curta

up on pillows, her fac

golden hair was d

rt sha

at Elois ca

tered open. "Alea

r bedside, tak

cold

ld back for so l

Mama," I

pe my cheek. "Silly girl, why ar

ing a smile. "No, Mam

dark, murky tonic on

's po

went through me, so inten

ye

afford to

er's hand, my voic

ing to be alright. And everyone w

in her tired eyes, but also

ker of

e, a fire that had no

nd walked to

tion, I tore open

, illuminating the dust m

ss my mother

olve was forged into