allway after breakfast

w you the house before the council meet

ors he meant. I got my

he named the rooms as we passed them. The library with the broken fireplace that had not been lit since 1994. The room where the pups did their lessons, with

man in a red coat. It has hung there since the house was built, and it is the ugliest t

now what it s

l and turned a corner. "She used to stand in front of it and invent stories about the man in the red coat. He was a duke in hiding. He was a murderer flee

fore I could

hat funny,"

una would spend her time inven

"There is not much to do i

ed brick, and there was a smell of old grease and soap and something underneath it that I ha

below us?

the floor as if he could see through it. "The cellar," he said. "The

e that i

ct is a promise, and promises can be broken. That is what the elders will want to

she smiled at Silas and said good morning, and he said good morning, Cora, and asked whether her son had finished

I said, "You kne

es it on her left hip because of an old injury on the right." He turned toward

e one night, and I could not tell you the nam

he puts too much salt in everything and she does not like to be corrected about it

and the pines below the ridge were black against the snow.

hat you se

e testi

re is a difference." He smiled a

is a trail going down through them, and the snow on the trail is packed hard from use. The roof of the pack house has a green

repeated. "That is the third ti

ld have

." He turned his face toward

la

would it be?" He shook his head.

not a

m not being a poet." He pushed off the rail. "Come. Ther

the east wing and the treeline. There was a stone bench there, half

marker for the Luna who vanished. My mother. The pack put it up because they need

, and someone had cleared the top with a broom, and there was a

her name

ly, and she could not cook at all, and on the night she disappeared she came out

saw

him properly." His clouded eyes were fixed on the marker. "She went into the vault. She did not come out. In the morning

imney lifted off and flap

hey will ask you to prove the bond. Elder

ention

e thing, Deke. The mine is forbidden ground for every wolf in this pack. Nobody goes down there without my leave. I

nt in

ll silver ribbon on it, and the ribbon had a name embroidered into it in

e was n

was my