Ducking my chin, I gazed down at our feet. His presence always grounded me—made me remember that there was more to life than the political demands of the court.
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“The duke summoned me to his study today.” I looked up, meeting Griffin’s eyes.
He raised his eyebrows. “The duke? He hasn’t asked for you specifically in… Gods, in years.” “I know,” I said. “He got a dispatch from Efra.”
“From the king?”
I nodded. “He’s holding a King’s Choice.”
Griffin was silent. He set his hand at my waist and squeezed like he knew where this was going.
“Reyna… You don’t mean…?”
“Yes.” Somehow saying it to Griffin made it more real. Anxiety curled in cold in my chest. “I’m to go as the representative from Daybreak.”
Griffin stepped back and pushed both hands through his hair. “You can’t. Reyna, you can’t go to the Court of Nightfall.”
“I don’t exactly have a choice here,” I said. “I’m a Lady of the Court, and the duke has ordered me to go.”
“Fuck the duke,” Griffin said low, through clenched teeth. “We can talk to him—there has to be something—”
“He can barely stand to look at me,” I said with a disbelieving laugh. “Do you really think he’d listen to anything I had to say? I tried to get him to consider other women who could go, but he wouldn’t hear anything.” I frowned. “He even bared his teeth at me.” Griffin sighed heavily. “Bared his teeth? Immediately?” “Immediately,” I said.
Griffin swore under his breath. I didn’t love the obscenity, but I understood his anger. I felt the same way. Neither Griffin nor I shifted often, and he also considered brazen shows of one’s wolf to be rude and lacking control. He knew that if my father was revealing his wolf with such little provocation, there would be no getting through to him. He’d made up his mind.
“We’ll run,” Griffin said. “We’ll leave Daybreak. We can leave tonight.”
“Don’t be naïve.” I tugged him closer with my hand on his hip. “You know my father would come for me.”
My pack was a seafaring one, and once upon a time, we’d been a pack of explorers, too. We knew how to travel and how to track. If I ran, my father’s wolves would find me with ease.
“Then what?” Griffin asked. “You just go?”
I nodded. “That’s exactly what I do,” I said. “I’ll go. I’ll compete in the King’s Choice, and I’ll lose.”
“You’ll be disgraced if you do that,” he said. “You won’t be able to show your face in the court.”
“Exactly,” I said. “If I lose, we’ll be able to get out of here—for real. We can start our own lives.”
“You make it sound easy,” Griffin said. “Like you’re not going directly into the Court of the Bloody King himself.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, even if I only halfway believed it. “I know how to hold my own. Even if it is the Nightfall wolves.”
Again, Griffin sighed. He knew I was stubborn, and he knew he wasn’t going to win me over in this discussion. Not when I’d already made up my mind about how I was going to play this. “You know it’s not as simple as losing. If you offend the king, he’ll do worse than kick you out.”
“I know,” I said. “I can walk that line, Griffin.”
He didn’t look convinced—and honestly, I sounded more confident than I felt.
He was right. I had to remember that the king wasn’t above making an example of a wolf who offended him.
“I trust you,” Griffin said, “it’s the king that scares me.” “Me too,” I admitted in a small voice.
Griffin wound his arms around me, pulling me close to his body. I wrapped my arms around his slim waist and rested my cheek against his shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent tinged with the inescapable stale beer smell of Marco’s. He brushed his nose against the crown of my head, careful not to disturb my braid.
“But I won’t let anything happen to you,” Griffin said. “If the king tries anything—I’ll come for you, Reyna.”
I nodded, hugging him a little closer to me. Even if that didn’t seem possible, my heart wanted to believe that. That there was someone in Frasia who cared enough to come for me if the king decided I wasn’t worth keeping alive. And Griffin and I still had so much to do together. We’d been together for a long time, but we’d only kissed once—at the solstice party, on the rare occasion of my being drunk on wine. I wanted to be married before we did anything more than that. I was a lady, after all. I
wanted our first time to be special—I wanted it to be the beginning of the rest of our lives together. And I wanted to know that he was the kind of man that would wait until I was ready. A man who would commit to me for me.
I had high standards for the company I kept. I knew that to some members of the Daybreak pack, that made me seem standoffish and cold—and I knew they called me the Ice Princess behind my back because of it. My pale features certainly didn’t help, either.
But it was easy to be myself around Griffin. I pulled away and offered him a small smile.
He placed his palm on my cheek. “I mean it. I won’t let anything happen to you. The Bloody King won’t hurt you.” His expression darkened. “And I won’t let him marry you, either.”
“I’ll be back before it snows in Efra,” I promised. “Before you’ve even realized I’m gone.” Griffin shook his head. “Not possible. I miss you already.”
2
T
hree days passed in a blur. Three days was not enough time to prepare for a long-term trip to a different pack, in a different climate. My wardrobe was mostly linen dresses and skirts with a few long jackets for the rainy season. But Efra was much colder, and my father had the tailors
work overtime. He insisted that I needed an all-new wardrobe for the weather there and to show my status as a Lady of Daybreak.
Now, I stood at the front gate of the manor. Three trunks were stacked up behind me and a fine brand-new, fur-lined coat hung over my arm. I was dressed simply in a linen skirt and blouse for the travel, but I had a fine silk gown to wear for when I made my entrance at Efra.Over the past three days, I felt like I’d barely had a chance to breathe. I’d had my hair done, my nails groomed, my skin exfoliated, undergone a brush-up on my etiquette, and a crash course in the history of all five packs. No one knew exactly what to expect from the King’s Choice, especially one held by Nightfall after a hundred years. The best I could do was to be prepared in, well, everything.“You think you brought enough?” Barion asked, eyeballing the three trunks stacked up behind me. He had a simple canvas bag swung over his shoulder and was dressed in his usual workwear of linen pants and boots.“I wasn’t the one who packed them,” I huffed as I crossed my arms over my chest. If it was me, I’d be traveling
Barion climbed into the coach, rapped his knuckles on the front, and then settled onto the bench across from me with a heavy sigh. The horses nickered and began to pull us away from the manor. I leaned out of the small window of the coach and watched as Griffin shrank in size, until the manor was just a distant structure on the horizon.“I don’t get what you see in that boy,” Barion muttered. He reached into the basket he’d brought with him and ripped off a chunk of crusty bread, as if we were already hours into our journey instead of just getting started. It was early in the morning, and we’d be riding in this bumpy coach all day. “There’s plenty of other lads in Daybreak that’d be honored to court a lady of your status. I doubt thatGriffin could even raise a broadsword over his head.”“This may shock you, Barion,” I said, “but a man’s ability to wield a sword is not the most important thing to me.”“I’ve never seen him shift, either,” Barion said. “He could be a sad, mangy dog in t
“I’ll show you to your room, my lady,” he said. “These fools won’t trouble you at all.”He nodded to the haggard-looking barkeep behind the counter, who sighed and abandoned her post to lead us up the stairs. Barion gave her more than a few coins, which brightened her mood. She unlocked the furthest door in the upstairs hall with a heavy brass key and motioned me inside.Barion followed me in and set my trunk by the foot of the bed. There was already a hot bath steaming in the room, which I desperately needed after a long day on the dusty road.“To your liking, my lady?” Barion asked.“Of course,” I said. “We can have our dinner downstairs, if you’d like.”“Oh, certainly not,” Barion said. “Those brutes are nothing but trouble. I’ll have dinner sent up to your room, and I’ll be right next door should you need anything.”I nodded. “If that’s best.”“We’ll leave just after dawn tomorrow,” Barion said, “to ensure we make it to the capital in time for the welcome dinner.” He glanced aroun
“Mmf,” Barion grunted as he eased into wakefulness in the afternoon. “Ah, we must be close.There’s that cold weather the Nightfall wolves love so much.”“It’s too cold,” I huffed. “This coat isn’t enough.”“I told you to put on the thicker socks this morning,” Barion said.I sucked my teeth. I was dressed to travel and also to make an entrance at Efra, somewhere between comfort and formality. The simple dark gown and heavy cotton skirt had been uncomfortable earlier in the day but now I was grateful for its warmth. I’d tucked the pendant Griffin had given me into my trunk this morning. I didn’t want anyone in Nightfall to ask about it. Instead, I’d worn my simple silver jewelry, a necklace and rings, just in case anyone doubted my status.“Here,” Barion said as he rummaged through his canvas bag. “I brought a pair for you.”I bit back a smile. “You think of everything, don’t you?”“It’s what your father pays me for,” Barion said with a wink. He handed me a pair of wool socks, and I q
“Lovely,” she said. “Don’t worry, Barion, if the wolves of Nightfall excel at anything, it’s ensuring our guests are well-fed.” She smiled at him, and then gestured at a handful of servants lingering near the front door. They hurried forward to the coach. “My staff will show you to your quarters, Barion. As for you, Lady Reyna, I’ll escort you to your quarters myself. The staff will bring your things.”“Thank you,” I said with another small curtsy.I followed Lady Glennis into the manor. The front hall was immense, with vaulted ceilings and polished stone floors; the low heels of her boots echoed through the space. The stained-glass windows were covered, but the room was well-lit with torches and a huge, roaring hearth, making it feel warm and cozy despite its size. She led me up the immense staircase in the center of the hall, then down a narrower path, to what I assumed must be the guest quarters.“I hope the journey was kind to you?” Lady Glennis asked.“Oh, it was lovely,” I said.
Breakfast, Rue revealed, was sausage, eggs, crusty bread, and hot coffee. I was almost relieved— part of me had been expecting a raw leg of deer or something. Maybe that was what the king had but wasn’t going to subject his guests to it quite yet. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and found a plush pair of slippers waiting. As soon as I’d slipped my feet inside, Rue hurried over with a fine robe and pulled it over my shoulders.“Good, good,” she said. “Eat first then we’ll help you prepare for the day. First impressions are the most important, you know.”I sat down at the table, and Rue briskly fixed my coffee with fresh milk and a touch of honey.“Thanks,” I murmured. “Just the way I like it.” After the first sip, my brain started to slowly rouse into wakefulness. “How did you know?”Rue just winked at me. “In two hours, Lady Glennis has requested your presence in the Solarium. You’ll be introduced to the other suitors of the Choice before all five of you are introduced to the
I tried not to scowl at my reflection and mostly succeeded. I hated the thought of the king looking at me and imagining my wolf—she was a private part of my soul, and I loathed to share her with the world at all.“That’s fine,” I said.To her credit, Amity seemed to understand I wasn’t interested in chatting. Hopefully, she’d just chalk it up to nerves. True to her word, she only put a small amount of makeup on me—a tint to my lips and a blush on my cheeks, making me look a little more doe-eyed and innocent than I wanted to. Then, from the drawer of the vanity, she pulled out a fine silver box.“You’ll be wearing this today,” she said. “Lady Glennis had them made for all the contestants of the Choice.” She opened the box and revealed a delicate tiara.It was silver, with delicate white stone cut in the shape of a semicircle, flanked by nine small diamonds. “This stone… Is it…?”“Moonstone, yes,” Amity confirmed.“It’s lovely,” I murmured. I’d seen jewelry made with moonstone at the ma
She liked having the wolves at her side, liked feeling protected, and knowing other wolves were close by. The itch to shift was at the base of my skull, but it was a small, familiar sensation, and one I easily ignored.We made our way to the solarium, which seemed to act like a central courtyard. It was like a gorgeous, domed greenhouse, with the sunlight falling in through the thick glass panels and snow gathered at the rivets where the panels connected, but the space inside was much warmer than the air outside. Still cool enough that my Daybreak-acclimated self needed my long sleeves, but certainly comfortable.The space was full of plants that seemed to be adequately taken care of. None of the ferns looked particularly happy and some of the flowers were drooping, but it was overall lush and a clear display of wealth and status. Not everyone had the capacity to keep such aesthetic greenery alive in these temperatures. I couldn’t help but wonder if these were plants my grandfather, C