*Isla*“You’re going back to the front?” I am standing in my bedroom, staring at Maddox as he explains to me why he has to leave even though I’ve just been told that the war is over for now. The conflict has ended; the troops are surrendering. Why in the world does he have to be there to collect their proverbial swords?“Yes, I have no choice, Isla. I’ve got to go meet with the other Alphas that fought alongside Alpha Geofrey and negotiate some terms with them. We can’t just shake hands and call it a day.”He says these things to me like I am so stupid I don’t know how war works. Yes, of course, I get it. Negotiations have to be made. I imagine there will be some sort of heavy fines to the lands that fought against the crown. I bet there will even be some changes in leadership.My question is… why does he have to be the one to talk through all of that? Doesn’t he have people who specialize in this sort of thing? Not to mention, his Beta is a pretty capable man if he would just give Se
*Isla*I am standing in the ballroom.My dress is long and blue, probably to bring out my eyes. It seems like every time I go to a ball or something of that nature, someone comes to dress me, and they tell me that I should wear blue to bring out my eyes. Or sometimes they tell me I should wear red to accent my lips or hair.I am wearing blue today, so I can only assume my eyes are sparkling….Crowds of people flutter around. I am nervous. I am scared. I can’t remember why. I walk between the other people, many of which are simply standing around the perimeter of the dance floor, talking to one another, eating the snacks that float by on trays carried by well-dressed waiters with impeccable manners. All of them have a beverage in their hand.My blue dress swirls around me as I walk. I am uncomfortable. I don’t want to be here.A woman is laughing loudly; it’s almost a cackle. Her face is a bit fuzzy as she turns to look at me, but she continues to laugh. Why is she off-kilter?The whol
*Maddox*Back at the front, the negotiations for peace are almost completed by the time I arrive. I am furious about the entire situation, but I cannot let that show. People need to think this is what I want even though I would much rather stay out here and continue to chase Alpha Geofrey around and around for a few more weeks (or months or years) than go back home and have a fucking contest to find a wife I don’t want or need.Commander Vember has done an excellent job of negotiating everything, even though it’s not what I wanted. I can’t be upset at him for doing a thorough job. When I get there, we sit in an office near the outskirts of Alpha Geofrey’s territory in a village we now control, in a building we now occupy, at a desk that someone in Geofrey’s pack will probably never return to.He goes over all of the terms while the other Alphas, those who have fought against me and lost, sit in a conference room down the hall. The sums of tributes they have agreed to give to the crown
*Isla*Sitting in the garden usually helped me clear my mind, but today I am struggling. With Maddox back at the front negotiating the terms of the surrender with his enemies and the rooms upstairs being prepared for the women who would be arriving in a week or two, I’m not sure what to do with myself. Occupying space on a bench beneath a tree, watching butterflies and birds flutter by seems like a royal waste of time, but I have no idea what would be a more constructive use of my time.Poppy isn’t with me. She decided it would be better for both of us if she continues to “help” the other maids so that she can find out what’s going on. So she’s in there, and I’m out here—by myself.I’d told her about the dream, and she’d said I was probably just nervous about Maddox finding someone he could love more than me, someone like Rebecca. She has a good point. It’s not as if Rebecca could actually return from the grave and marry Maddox again. Nevertheless, the dream was shocking, and I’m stil
*Isla*“You did the right thing,” Poppy says to me the next day over breakfast as I am contemplating whether or not she is correct.For the last eighteen hours or so, there’s been a manhunt all over the castle as Commander Pepelos is being searched for like a rabid dog on the loose. He hasn’t been found yet, and I hope that he will not be because I don’t want to have to explain to Maddox the truth of the situation—that he is my cousin. For now, Antony is hiding in a cabin in the woods about eighty miles from here. It’s not the same one I was almost killed in, but from his description of it, the place isn’t much better.I only know where he is because he has sent me hundreds of messages over the mind-link begging me to come with him to the islands, telling me about how the weather will be bad soon, and if we don’t go now, we’ll have to wait until later. Later—when I am about to give birth.He is adamant that this is a good thing, that I should leave my “cheating boyfriend” behind and g
*Isla*“Death?” I repeat as Maddox stares at me unblinking. “Really?”Maddox nods. “Yes, that’s the punishment for committing treason. What do you think it should be? I mean, we have to be tough on these people who break the law.”“What about all of those Alphas who just fought against you in the war?” I counter. “How many of them have been sentenced to death.”Maddox shifts slightly in his chair. “Well, that’s a little bit different. Those are Alphas. They have a different standard that they are held to.”“Shouldn’t it be higher?” I argue. “I mean, those people have sworn allegiance to you, too, and not only do they fight you themselves, but they also force others to do so as well, whether they want to or not. If you can put someone to death for lying about their background, shouldn’t you be doing the same for the men who just tried to take your throne from you?”Maddox stares at me with his lips pressed together. “You seem awfully invested in this,” he says. “I’m not exactly sure wh
*Isla*My dress is silver.I refused to wear a dress that looks anything like the one from the dream that I had about the ball. Likewise, I’m not going into the ballroom ahead of time. I am waiting. Not with the other women, but in a room down the hallway from where they will be entering the ballroom.I wish that Poppy were with me, but she’s not. She’s needed in the ballroom as a servant. With all of these extra women in the castle, she’s been very busy running around, making sure everyone has everything they need. My understanding is that most of the Alphas’ daughters have brought their own help for things like getting dressed, doing their hair, etc., but those people don’t bring them food or tidy up after them. That’s been left up to the castle staff.Maddox didn’t even stay here the whole time between our discussion and the ball. He ended up leaving to go back to the front and then returning. I know that Antony got away from the people chasing him because my cousin told me so, but
*Isla*“Rebecca?”I can’t breathe. I’m trying to get oxygen into my lung, but nothing is happening. My head feels dizzy. My knees refuse to support my body, and the room around me spins.Maddox’s hands are on my arms, holding me up. “Yes, Trinity looks very much like my dead wife.” The words come out of his mouth the same way that he might order soup or comment on the weather.“But… but… but….” I can’t manage to form a coherent sentence.The dream I had the other night all makes sense now. Somehow, I’d subconsciously known that Rebecca would return to being a threat to me now that the contest had begun.“Isla, calm down,” Maddox says to me. “People are beginning to stare.”I want to break away from him, to shout at him that if that’s all he cares about, then he can kiss my ass. But if I break away from him now, I will tumble to the ground.Using the mind-link, I call out to the only other person I would trust to help me in this situation. “Ben! Come here, please! I’m going to faint!”
BrieTempest Valley is everything I’d been told it would be. It’s rocky, mountainous, but with flat, sprawling beaches with pristine, white sand that shimmers against the shallow, turquoise water. Palm trees bend at odd angles along the beach as the sunset sets the small village in shades of gold and crimson. Small houses made of wood stick out of the trees and along the rocky rise of the mountain. The village spirals upward against the mountain, small trails connecting each house and shop. On the beach, several huge bonfires erupt as the sun finally drops below the horizon, the sound of lively, thrumming music and conversation mingling beneath the twinkling stars. I’m looking down at it all beside Monica, both of us in our wolf forms. We’ve been out in the mountains for hours–sprinting. Jumping off of rocks, skirting around trees and chasing small tropical creatures and birds–anything to burn off some serious nervous energy. Another group of wolves rushes up behind us, but she pay
Brie“What about us?” My voice hangs in the air between us. The room goes so quiet and still I can feel the Asteria gliding back into open water, the rocky, uneven bounce of sailing through the shallows finally settling. I wait for him to tell me to come with him. I wait, and wait, my heart squeezing with each second that passes, but I already know he won’t. His eyes already paint his answer clearly. He’s sacrificing the family he was given–the family he loves that loves him in return. He’s not going to ask me to make the same mistake. My body slumps against the weight of it, like I’m being dragged underwater, unable to fight the current. I’m exhausted. I’m in pain–physical and emotional pain, like my heart is being plucked from my chest and tossed into the ocean to drown. I promised myself, long ago, that I’d never beg and plead on my knees to be loved. I would simply accept my fate. I knew my worth to the world the moment I was old enough for the tabloids to start questioning m
BrieOne second, I’m standing, my feet firmly planted on the floorboards of the uppermost deck, and the next, I’m flying through the air with Sawyer, our bodies colliding with the railing and then bursting through it, the wood splintering painfully across my back and spine. Logan shouts my name, but his voice drowns out, nothing more than a flicker of breath against the sound of the incoming ships trying to burst through the wall of fire so close to us I can feel the heat on my skin. I’m… dangling. My legs are slack, my arms burn and stretch, and my head… aches, hurting so fiercely I can barely open my eyes. A sharp, heady, metallic taste fills my mouth. I try to breathe in, but the scent of blood is so heavy it makes my stomach roll with nausea. I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.“Someone grab her! Help them!” Logan shouts, his voice lined with desperation and utter rage. My arms go numb, but my belly slides against the side of the ship as I’m dragged upward, and only when I’m rough
Brie“Logan!” I fly out of bed as the boat tilts dramatically, several books, a pair of boots, and a hairbrush sliding across the floorboards as I dart toward the closet and snatch a pair of pants from a hanger. Logan hastily buttons his shirt, turning his head from side to side trying to locate the boots that just flew to the opposite side of the room. I pull on the pants and grab the first shirt my fingers graze–a men’s shirt, but it doesn’t matter. Logan rushes to the far side of the room for his boots, pulling one of them on, cursing under his breath while the purple lights continue speeding in our direction. “Logan,” I hiss, tossing his other boot at him. “Why are you getting dressed?” he asks, pointing to the bed. “Stay here–”“No, I’m not going to stay here.” I growl, shrugging the shirt over my shoulders and doing my best to button it with trembling fingers. Echoes of pleasure still thrum through my body, mingling with the adrenaline now pumping through my veins. “I’m going
LoganMy knees bite into the floorboards, but I don’t feel a Goddess damned thing except my tongue sliding through Brie’s wetness. The taste of her is… my undoing. I might regret this in the morning. There will be consequences for this, of that I’m sure. We both know this can’t happen. I am stronger than this–I was stronger than this–able to shut any feeling down the moment it tried to flicker to life, but Brie has this otherworldly effect on me that I can’t shake. I’ve given up trying. She whimpers and trembles as my tongue draws lazy circles over her clit. Her thighs flex while she grips the sheets, her eyes squeezed shut as she chases a feeling I know she’s experiencing for the first time. A sense of pride swells in my chest knowing it’s me between her legs. It’s my face she’s squeezing between her soft, supple thighs. It’s me kneeling for her, a queen in her own right. There’s so much I want to do to her. So much I could show her, make her feel, but she’s… new at this. And I’m
BrieI take a step away from Logan, then another, until my back hits the wall just outside of the bathroom. The room blurs, the soft cream fabrics and dark wood turning dreamlike and hazy. We could be anywhere–any kingdom–any room or darkened forest, and I wouldn’t know it because right now it’s just me and him, and I’m utterly, wholly exposed. I’m sure my family and those others who know me well would say I’m a complicated person. They’d be right. Below the surface, beyond my mask of resilience, I’m like ice, and within that icy fortress is something akin to fear. No one has been able to penetrate those walls. Not even Maeve. But Logan is looking right through me, shoving those walls down, clawing at them until they topple and shatter. “If you don’t feel the same,” he says, his tone softening, “I… I understand. I know our situation is complicated, Brie, I get it. I have an… obligation to return to Emberfyll, and you–”“I regret it.” My voice shakes, but my gaze stays locked on hi
BrieI can’t be your friend. I lean my forehead against the railing, closing my eyes as I dangle my legs through the rails. What feels like fathoms below me, the ocean stretches toward the milky light of the last minutes of what had been the most spectacular sunset I’d ever seen in my life. Stars flicker into view overhead, nestled against a blanket of deep orange and crimson, and behind me, I listen to Sawyer and Logan pouring over a map spread out on a table bolted to the floor just beside the helm–the massive wheel used to steer a ship only a pirate would have. Logan doesn’t want to believe we have, in fact, been thrust through time and now sail the open seas in the company of pirates. In his rational defense, I haven’t seen a single person with a peg leg, a parrot, or an eye-patch, so he’s probably right. It’s a fun thought, though. I kick my legs, my bare toes chilled by the wind whipping into the sails as we practically fly over the water. I like this better than the yacht.
LoganSunlight pours over the deck of the Asteria, glinting off the sails. I watch the Artemis drift past, Alex waving from the upper deck before fading into the bright glare of the sun. I grip the railing, closing my eyes for a moment and taking a much needed breath that catches in my throat the second footsteps sound on the stairs nearby. Sawyer grunts softly as he reaches the top of the steps and turns in my direction, squinting against the sun but smiling as he says, “You settled in?”I nod, biting back that breath I desperately needed and all the other feelings threatening to make themselves known the next time I see Brie, which is hopefully several hours from now after I’ve had a chance to cool off. “The Asteria’s the oldest and slowest,” Sawyer says under his breath, joining me at the railing. “But she’s a solid ship. A good girl. My favorite of the fleet, actually.”“Why aren’t you captaining her, then?”He grins and shrugs. “The same reason I’m not on the Artemis with Alex.
MaeveThe hallowed halls of the palace in Moonrise are quiet and somber. Normally, light would spill through the ancient stained glass windows lining the foyer, casting sunlight that made the golden walls gleam, but today everything is dark. Gray. Lifeless. Rain thunders across the glass ceiling, echoing down hallways usually alive with conversation and bodies bustling from room to room. Now, my only company is my shadow, and even that’s trying to curl away, just as worn and empty as I feel. It’s been nearly a week since we lost Brie. I couldn’t stay in Maatua for another second waiting for news.I walk up the grand staircase, wearing a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers, a far cry from the sweeping, luxurious gowns of silk I normally dress in when visiting my future home.Yes, one day all of this will be mine. I’ve known it–felt it in my bones since I was just a little girl. I will be queen. Soon. Three years from now, I’ll stand on the balcony and wave down at the people of Moonrise–of a