Novels by Opute Ovie

Sera's POVI stared at him and didn't move.He stood one step inside the room, relaxed as always, watching me with those amber eyes that gave away exactly nothing. The firelight caught the angles of his face and made him look like something carved rather than born.I hated that he was attractive. It felt like a personal insult."You said we would discuss what this marriage looks like," I said "So discuss."He moved further into the room, toward the sitting area, where two chairs faced each other in front of the fireplace. He sat in one of them and looked at me with an expression that said well?I crossed the room and sat in the other one.If he was surprised I did sit with just a gesture, he didn’t show it."The bond has to be real," he said. "Not performed. Real. Wolf noble houses will be watching… If they believe this marriage is hollow they will use it against both of us.""Real means different things to different people, and–""In wolf culture it means witnessed," he cut me off. "

Sera's POVWe arrived at Dusk borne Palace by nightfall, which I suspected was deliberate. The palace looked almost impossible at night, lit from within by thousands of lights that turned every window gold, the dark stone towers rising against the sky like something that had grown there rather than been built.The gates were twice the height of Thornwell’s and moved silently, which meant they were maintained constantly, which meant this place had resources that would make Betha weep for an entirely different reason.I kept my face neutral.Inside was worse. Everything was enormous, beautiful and deliberately overwhelming ceilings that made you feel small, corridors lined with tapestries that told wolf history in vivid thread, floors so polished I could see myself walking across them. Warmth everywhere, real warmth, from fireplaces large enough to stand in.I’d spent three winters rationing firewood. I kept walking.I was given a wing. Not a room. Four rooms connected by an inner corri

Sera’s POVMorning came grey and cold.I hadn’t slept all through the night. I’d sat at my window and watched the cooking fires light up one by one in the settlement below as people rose before dawn the way hungry people always do… because empty stomachs don’t let you sleep past first light.I washed my face, strapped on my sword, braided my hair back tight the way I always did before something difficult, then I walked down to the outer yard.I stopped the moment I saw him.Cael Duskborne. This early?But he was not alone this time. Six wolf guards in full Duskborne armor flanked him on each side, standing perfectly still in the pale morning light. Massive, silent, expressionless. Not a threat exactly, more like a reminder. A quiet demonstration of exactly what was waiting beyond Thornwall's walls.He stood at the front of them, still in that same unhurried way, hands clasped behind his back, watching me cross the yard toward him.His amber eyes moved to my sword, then back to my face

Sera's POVI stopped a few inches from him, studying him for a long moment.He let me, didn’t rush me, didn’t smile, just stood there in my yard with the morning light caught in his copper hair, waiting like a man entirely certain time was on his side.I sheathed my sword."I will give you my answer by sundown," I said.He nodded. "I will wait."I turned and walked back toward the fortress without another word. My guards fell into step around me. I kept my face forward, my spine straight, my steps even.I didn’t let myself think about the way his eyes had found mine on the wall before he had even seen my face clearly. I didn’t let myself wonder how he’d known exactly where to look.Magnus was already waiting for me at the top of the inner stairs. He’d his staff in both hands and his face was the colour of ash.He’d clearly overheard everything. I could tell by the way he was looking at me."Sera–" he started."Not now," I cut him off."You don't understand, there are things I need to

Sera’s POVThe alarm bells of Thornwall hadn’t rung in three years.When they rang now, I was already running. I’d been in the war room, staring at a map that kept telling me the same terrible truth; we had food for forty more days, ammunition for twenty, and hope for about three.I’d been trying to find a fourth number that made the first three less fatal when the bells split the morning air like a blade.I grabbed my sword without thinking. My boots hit the stone corridor before the second ring died."What is it?" I shouted at the guard sprinting past me."The east gate, Commander. You need to see it yourself."That was never a good sentence. I took the stairs three at a time, burst through the heavy iron door at the top of the wall and pushed through the cluster of soldiers gathered at the parapet. They parted for me without being asked.I looked down, and saw just one man, one horse, no army, no flag, no weapons. I could see it from up here.But I knew who he was before I saw his