“I love you.” I drop a kiss on his lips. “And, Goddess forgive me, I trust you. But you must take Castor.”Anwen grimaces. “Will do. The rest of the women should stay here with you.”Tess makes a disdainful noise.“I can’t leave her unprotected,” he tells her.I twist and watch my best friend soften
AnwenWith Nessa’s list in hand and all three of us dressed in plain, heavy clothes, Baz, Castor, and I sneak down into the city proper, through my favorite secret passage so even the guards don’t know we’re gone. My whole body hums with adrenaline. I couldn’t—can’t kill Floyd. Not yet. But this fuc
Like he can read my fucking mind, he hangs a hard right into a narrow alley with a standing market. Vendors in layers of mismatched clothes crowd the tiny space. Speed won’t help me here. I could throw back my hood and demand they stop him as their prince, but—“Allow me.” Castor breezes past me int
EstrellaMy room!’ Castor shouted through the mind-link. ‘Now!’I turned and sprinted out of the solarium without a second thought, leaving the party behind. I hurtle down the halls of Solberg Castle, the veil of my wedding dress flapping behind me like a broken wing, without a thought in my mind b
I shake my head furiously. “I killed him.”“What?”“Father.” My shoulders shake with sobs. “I knew the bond would make me stronger. Strong enough to—to—”“Oh, love.” Anwen kisses my cheeks.I tear out of his arms. Everything is too loud, too much.“Don’t say that about yourself,” Castor says roughly
Anwen“Are you sure of this?” King Andri rumbles.I hold the massive Alpha’s dark stare. “Someone working with Floyd on the whole plan told us everything. I’m sure you understand why I can’t tell you who.”“You think you cannot trust me.” He studies me.I hold my straight-backed posture. The king of
She laughs then covers her mouth. “No. Father’s… I’ve never seen him give up on anything. He’s probably just changing the plan, now that he’s lost the element of surprise.”That, too. She’s weirdly calm for having turned her back on her father.Kieran said I was projecting when I told him my worries
EstrellaI tug Anwen through the forest. While I do have a map in the bag strapped to my back, I don’t pull it out. The bag is heavy because King Kieran packed us enough fresh water in canteens to last a week. I need a moment alone with my mate.The twisting, winding roots guide my steps deeper. Th
Kash frowns. “Then how’d she find out? See a mark?”“In effect.” Hollis stares at the rocky floor.“He’s softening it.” I bite my lip. “We didn’t not pursue as much as we intended to, and she caught us. We made a terrible, selfish mistake that’s caused a lot of problems, and we just want to fix them
Candace“This is a bad idea.” Ingrid crosses her arms and glares at her door, like Hollis is just outside of it.He’s not. He’s in my room, waiting for me to come back after I told him his idea was a bad one and that I needed to get someone else’s opinion first.“Is it a bad idea because it’s Hollis
“Lord Soren,” Candace says numbly. “Where is he?”I grimace at the memory of our return home. Soren greeted the caravan at the gate, redder than Father with rage. His bellowing was hard to follow, threading together fights from their childhodbetween him and Father with ancient slights between our fa
Hollis“Come in?” Candace calls hesitantly through the door of one of the lesser guest rooms.I suck in a deep breath. I can smell her even through the door, blackberries and sunshine. Knocking—rather than just tearing down the door like I wanted to the second Lord Gunnar told Father about the addit
“Coming up!” the driver on the front of the carriage calls.Ingrid presses her face to the window. I try to look and almost end up tumbling into Taner’s lap. But finally, the carriage pulls to a stop, and someone opens the door for us to exit.According to protocol, Kieran exits first, with Taner ri
CandaceWhen the sun rises the next morning, it finds me crouching in the stables, sandwiched between one of Finn’s favorite stallions and Ingrid. It lights the wild grin that’s barely left her face since I barged into her drawing practice yesterday and declared Kieran didn’t control me. She immedia
That leaves me with Kash as company. He likes to walk through the castle with me while I point out places where different things happened. And to eat every meal together. And to spend almost every second that I’m not asleep by my side–making up for lost time, always. By the second day, I’m making up
CandaceI fold dresses into my trunk and listen to the commotion of the rest of the encampment breaking down outside. Kieran decided that letting King Andri cool off would yield the best results, so we’re leaving just as quickly as everybody else. This weird pocket of time with so many people in one
“What?” Ingrid scowls. “You’d think assassinating your own father would be enough to prove that you didn’t agree with him. Throw Mother in the dungeon with Hollis, when we get around to that stage.”Anwen winces.“We’re not throwing Hollis in the dungeon,” Kieran says tightly. “Not least because, in