lyn

the Winter Solstice broke under a low, lead-gray sky, howlin

old-coin feast, Camila had wept and offered to pay out of her own dowry, only for the furious Dowager to slap her across the face and force her to

ed quietly into the dressing room holding a

s of the High Temple will be icy and steep in this cold wave, so

two over in the Rosewood Wing have been wailing since

year-old Moonstone Rosary burst into a warm, radiant blue glow, filling the dim ro

er breath catching in her throat. "J

osary with both hands in a gesture of utmost respect. "My lungs are still weak from my old injuries, so I cannot brave the snowstorm. I wish to lend the Queen

and took the royal artifact. Tears of sheer excitement w

nity satisfied beyond her wildest dreams. Wearing the Queen Grandmother's personal rosary, she

nd Kalia-whose eyes were swollen red like walnuts-stood shivering in plain cloaks. When the Dowager marche

." Camila stammered, her ey

filial devotion to honor our clan!" the Dowager snapped in di

tears freezing on her cheeks as the

of clouds gathering over the distant mountain peaks. In my past life, a once-in-a-centur

ning roar echoed from the mountain range as an avalanche buried the main highway to the capital. Within an hour,

rom going rabid in the freezing cold. Only the Dowager sat comfortably inside the warm thermal barrier of the Moonstone Rosary, served hot holy water by the High Shaman himse

nto our fortress, my father, Hartwell Burks, dropped his

twell muttered, his forehead drenched in cold sweat. Had we not canceled that five-hundred-coin feast l

down the spiral stone stairs into the hall. "Father, the bliz

ld, ruthless Alpha eyes trembling with a mixture