“This is unbelievable,” Adora snapped. “Why was there a final trial if it wasn’t a trial at all? Had the king already made up his mind? We all know his attention has been focused on Reyna since the beginning. How farcical!” She sniffed, then smoothed one hand over fine blonde hair. “How could you accept this?” she asked me.
“Accept this? Adora, you know this isn’t—I never—” I glanced toward Lady Glennis, who was watching us both with mild interest. “You know this isn’t how I wanted this to happen. We both know you would be a fine queen.”
Her expression softened as she heard the unspoken part of my statement. That this isn’t what I wanted. That she deserved it, not me. If I could, I’d switch places with her immediately, regardless of whatever feelings I felt for the king. Anger and desire and—and something else, something I wasn’t sure what to call.
“I know I would,” Adora said. “That’s the worst part.” She cleared her throat, then nodded at the table and Lady Glennis. “Thank you, milady.” She hurried from the room before any of us could respond, and the door to the solarium clattered shut behind her.
“Well,” Lady Glennis said primly, “she took that well. Such is to be expected in a competition such as this. Lady Reyna, it’s imperative that we begin planning for the wedding next week. It will be an event for the citizens of Efra as well, and there will be quite the schedule of events, as is the tradition with Nightfall. We’ll cover the basics first.”
“Lady Glennis,” Fina cut in, “I’d love to participate in the planning, should you be willing to continue your courteous hosting. Perhaps some wolves of Duskmoon can come aid as well?”
Lady Glennis smiled and patted Fina’s hand. “What a lovely offer. Of course Nightfall would appreciate your help. Do stay.”
I nodded in agreement. Already my head was beginning to pound with stress and sleep deprivation and miserable anticipation of a wedding. How could I have forgotten about the wedding?
“Let’s begin,” Lady Glennis said.
“If I may, milady,” Fina said, “with the additional help of myself and my pack, I see no harm in delaying the planning until tomorrow. With the events of last night, I believe we could all use a little more sleep…?” She smiled hopefully.
I met Fina’s eyes as gratitude surged through me. I needed more sleep, certainly, but more than that
I needed to be alone. There was something more pressing than the upcoming wedding—Griffin’s upcoming challenge. I had to figure out what to do.
Lady Glennis sighed with mild irritation but nodded in agreement. “I do need both of you in top form to begin the planning,” she said. “Get some rest today, and we’ll begin tomorrow morning.” “Thank you, milady,” I said, but I was looking at Fina. She smiled gently at me.
With a curt nod, Lady Glennis excused herself, leaving out the side door of the solarium. Fina and I stepped into the hall, and she quickly tugged me into a brief, hard hug. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Pardon me for saying, but you look awful. Was the date with the king that bad?”
“No, no,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s not that, it’s—it’s the challenge.”
Fina’s eyes flashed with recognition. “You don’t mean to say…”
“Yes,” I said. “It was Griffin who issued it. He tried to ‘rescue’ me.”
Fina hid her shocked expression behind her hand. “He thought he could stand against the King of
Frasia? No offense, but is he a fool?”
“That was my reaction as well,” I said with a sigh.
“You must be able to discuss with the king,” Fina said. “He chose you, after all. He’ll listen.”
I couldn’t tell her that I’d already tried, and that it was a lost cause. There was nothing I could say to convince the king to call off the challenge. “I’m going to try,” I said to Fina. “I just need some time.”
She nodded. “Send for me if you need anything.”
I wrapped her in another hard hug. “Thank you,” I said. “For everything.” “Thank me after the wedding,” she said, muffled into my shoulder.
I made my way to the only place I could think to go—the library. Thankfully, the halls were quiet and the doors unguarded. I pushed the heavy door open slowly and peeked inside. The room was empty. Did any of the Nightfall pack even use this space? The only one I’d seen use it was the king himself.
I swallowed, looking up at the wraparound balcony. The last time I’d been up there, it hadn’t ended well.
I closed the door behind me, leaned against the wood, and breathed deep. The familiar smell of paper and ink soothed my nerves. It was quiet in here. I was finally alone. And if there was anything I was good at, it was research. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, but there had to be something. Something would give me an idea. If I couldn’t stop the wedding, I could at least stop the challenge.
I climbed the stairs to the balcony and made my way to the map archives.
Briefly I paused, standing by the great wooden tables and the tall shelves, staring at the place where I’d driven my knife into Rona’s flank. The memory of her jaws snapping down on me surged in my memory with startling clarity. And alongside it—the memory of Rona in her human form, watching me from across the table in the solarium, in her plain gowns with that sharp, determined glare.
She’d wanted this just as badly as Adora had.
Why me? Why was the king so insistent on claiming me?
I shook those thoughts from my mind. The why didn’t matter. Every time I thought I had the king figured out, he did something new I didn’t understand. Some curious tinge to his expression, some flash of gold in his eyes. But his motivations weren’t important.
Focus. I pulled a few maps from the shelves. Something here would point me in the right direction. As I smoothed out the first map, I found I couldn’t focus on the delicate lines of ink illustrating the cities and packs of Frasia. There was so much of the country we hadn’t seen. All the places we’d meant to visit together—the small towns, the tall mountain ranges, the deep forests, the sea between Frasia and Askon.Griffin couldn’t die. Not like this. Not in the arena at the end of the king’s blade. He was my safe place for so long, my only friend in Daybreak, and the only one who listened to me when I spun out my dreams of a different, bigger life. Even now, with this stupid decision, he’d done it for me. He’d wanted that life together, too.I put the large map of Frasia aside and unfurled a different one. This was a current map, of Efra as it was built today, with its crowded streets and its bustling industry. I sighed as I traced the paths of the city I’d visited. The beautiful wal
I unfurled the map in my mind. According to the chart, there was an entrance into the tunnel system just under the window at the far end of the hall. There, a landscape portrait hung on the wall beside the window—an image of the forest that was visible outside, and a fairly unimpressive rendering of it, at that. I’d thought it was just a boring decorative choice, like most of the decor in the Nightfall manor. Now I wondered if it had a purpose.I leaned close to the painting, but it was just that: a painting. Dull trees, snow, a gray sky, a few wolf tracks visible in the snowbanks. I wrinkled my nose, leaning closer. There had to be a clue in the painting, something that would show me how to get into the tunnel system. I smoothed my hand over the frame. Did it move? Was there something behind it?As I knelt down slightly to feel the bottom of the frame, a breeze whispered over my fingers.There was something there. I knelt further, pressing my hand against the frame. There was a seam
The tunnel doorway opened into a hallway. It wasn’t the earthen-floored darkness of the tunnel system, but more like the servants’ hallways that snaked on the lower floors of the manor. It was narrow with stone walls and dim lighting.I pushed the secret door to the tunnel closed behind me. The cold air was permeated with a terrible stench of ammonia and iron – piss and blood. Then, a wail cut through the air, low and long. A weak cry of pain. Behind that, a howl sounded. A thump like a body being struck. The scrape of metal on metal.Cold fear crawled into my throat. The dungeons weren’t just a holding place—people were being hurt. I pulled my knife from my waistband and crept down the narrow hallway, toward the terrible sounds calling me like a dark siren. The hallway led to an immense archway. There wasn’t even a door. The dungeons were just open, as if I were already in the dungeons now. I most likely was. The tunnels had been a secret entrance. I’d bet that behind me, at the far
“Did you think I was happy waiting for you? We had no timeline for marriage. You wouldn’t even kiss me. I’m a wolf, Reyna, I have needs. I can’t be told to wait.” Again, his eyes flashed as he looked at me, hunger and desire evident in his gaze. My wolf cowered, pulling away from him. “A wolf isn’t supposed to run from a fight,” he continued. “I won’t run from Daybreak to follow your flights of fancy. I’m meant to be a leader. An alpha. When I kill the king, I’ll take what I’ve always been owed.”Under his burning gaze, I wasn’t sure if he meant the crown—or me. Nausea turned my stomach. This wasn’t the man I’d loved. Was this who Griffin truly was? Had everything we’d had together been a lie?“You never loved me,” I said. “You just wanted a way into the court.”“I do love you,” he said. “But you can’t run from who you are. You are a Lady of the Court, and now you will be queen.”I’d never seen Griffin like this, bloodthirsty and single-minded. “I won’t be a part of this,” I said.“I
Griffin didn’t seem to think that was the case, though. He didn’t know what he was doing. Somehow, that made it worse. As angry and betrayed as I was, I at least wished he had the sense to know he couldn’t beat the king. I didn’t want to be with him, but I didn’t want to watch him die. No wolf wanted to watch her packmate die.But—was he even my packmate anymore?My father had planned all of this. My father had used me as bait, placing me in Efra to give Griffin a reason to challenge. Would a pack leader do that to one of his own?Did I have nowhere I belonged?The only thing I knew for sure right now was that the only wolf I could trust was myself. There was nothing I could do to stop this challenge, and with Griffin’s admission, I had no reason to, either. At least the king hadn’t lied to me. He’d confused me, challenged me, irritated me—but he hadn’t lied to me. I sighed. It was a low bar, but he was one of the few men in my life who hadn’t crossed it.So today, I would look the pa
Horns blared, and then a young wolf dressed in bright purple bounded into the center of the arena. He spread his arms wide, and the arena erupted into cheers and shouts so loud it sent me flinching backward. The force of the sound was like a wave. People stood up, waved their hands, and threw paper into the arena in excitement.“Good morning,” the announcer called in a voice as bright as a bell. “To my Ladies of the Court and my lovely council members.” He swept into a bow, then straightened up and spun gracefully on his heel to see the arena. “And to the wolves of Nightfall!”The people stomped on the stands, creating a thunderous effect that made the entire stadium rumble beneath me. I gripped the arms of my seat, shocked by the power of the response.“Wolf Griffin of Pack Daybreak has graced us with his presence this morning,” the announcer shouted, “and challenged our king for the right to the throne!” Boos and hisses filled the air with animal ferocity.“Shall we see what this wo
Now the king was angry. I could sense it radiating off him, and my wolf could feel it, too, hunkering down in my chest. He’d been playing with Griffin before, and now Griffin had proven himself a stronger challenger than the king had expected. The king growled, stalking closer. Griffin met his gaze steadily, head low and lips drawn back.Then Griffin lunged forward again. In his confidence, he jumped high, aiming to get his mouth around the king’s neck. But the king saw it coming. He ducked low, so Griffin was nearly on top of him, then slammed his jaws closed hard on Griffin’s front leg, right at the top near the shoulder. The bone crunched under the pressure and Griffin yowled, high and pained. My skin crawled at the sound, and I leaned forward slightly in an attempt to see better. Blood stained the dirt of the arena.The king released him, his teeth stained red. He growled again, hackles up and his head low— another space in the battle for Griffin to submit.I squeezed my hands int
A soft knock on the door caught my attention. I glanced over at the door, then sighed and settled back against the headboard. I didn’t want Amity and Rue to know I was awake. Eventually, I’d have to face them—there was a wedding to plan, after all—but so far they’d respected my need for privacy. At some point they’d insist I face the court, but I was putting that off as long as I could.There was another knock on the door, sharper this time. More insistent. Maybe it was Fina or Adora, but I wasn’t quite ready to face them, either. I gazed out the window, as if I ignored the knocking enough, it’d stop all together.That was not the case. Another series of sharp, demanding knocks. I heaved a sigh and finally stood up. Whoever was at my door wasn’t giving up. I pulled on my robe and cinched it tight around my waist, then turned toward the door.Before I could take a step, it swung open.The king stood at the other side of the threshold, and he looked terrible. He had dark circles under h