tte

e gardens. The autumn roses had withered, leaving be

w to secure my compensation, how to leave

race. I was an Allison. W

the dirt with a twig-a lifelong habit when I was thinking-when a w

ed by a giggling gaggle of nob

y dress and into a new,

pigeon's egg was fastened at the collar, shimmering with an inner light. I recognized the style immed

ise, though the triumph in her eyes was unmistakable. "I

with her

hoping for scraps of prestige. They had always looked down on my merchant origins, deliberate

ockery, my eyes f

l around her. "Do you like it?" she asked, knowing full well the answer she wanted. "Cre

to me," twisting the

calluses on my fingertips, earned from years of holding a quill, brushed against the softness of the pelt and the coldn

Northern snow-wolf alpha, only three are harvested a year. The labor

stone with my fingernail, pro

red at me, her smug expression faltering. The

you talking abou

"I was just thinking, for something so valuable, ho

a threat. Coralie instinctiv

this cloak. She had no idea she had

e. "Pippa, go to my room. Bring me th

nfused, curtsied

nds stared at me as

ick are you playing now?"

waited patiently for

reathless, and handed m

in front o

nt's abacus. It was exquisitely crafted from rosewood, the frame smooth and glowing. Th

With my right, I began to move the beads, p

most beautiful m