te Coo

ing barefoot on the stone floor, she gasped in fright, hurried over to guide me back unde

oncern. "Even the sweetest tonic can harbor venom if brewed in secret. Lady Kiya belongs to the Sec

behind my eyes. In my past life, Nora had warned me about Kiya again and again

marrow essence used to nourish a young werewolf's core spirit, served inside a heavy, gold-embo

ds still mottled and raw from scrubbing the floor-hurried into the chamber with a strained, f

ce radiating the effortless ease of the merchant nobility, my stepmother Gerda stepped across th

woman named Gwen-my biological mother. Stripped of their noble titles for a past court offense, my mother's family had fallen into disgrace, their bloodline exiled as wandering troubadours. The strict Cooley Clan

the Redstone border to be at my mother's side. Not long after, both of them fell beneath the savage claws of a rogue wolf pack du

ured sweet venom into my ear every day-whispering that Gerda's cold jealousy had driven my parents to their bloody graves at the frontier, and that every jewel Gerda bestowed u

my mattress, her posture rigid, her hands twisting nervously in her rings

h glowing crystal phials and aged herbs onto the table. "I brought sunroot marrow extract and royal cordi

"Aunt Gerda, Cousin Collette has always possessed such a delicate, sensitive constitution. How could her wo

lush of awkward helplessness staining her cheeks as s

an agonizing pang of guilt seized my phantom heart. Lifting my head, I caught

m and true through the bedchamber. "The Pack Healer examined me earlier and said my wo

ke these elixirs and have them safel

chamber. Both Gerda and Kiya froze, t

royal silks she laid at my feet, I had only ever address

althy merchant heiress like warm spring thunder,

tupor, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "I have far more in my storerooms! I wi

her arms. Seeing that the color had returned to my cheeks and that my long-standing bitterness had evaporated, she h