Novels by Chidera Mbonu

Wren's Pov"We've found the third."The whisper dies, and the dark office is silent, and for three long heartbeats, neither of us moves.Then the Headmistress strikes a match. Her hands are shaking so badly it takes her two tries to relight the candle, and when the flame finally catches, I see her face, and I wish I hadn't. Headmistress Corvane, who is famous for never being surprised, looks like a woman standing at the edge of a very long fall."You heard it," I whisper. "Tell me you heard it too.""I heard it." Her voice comes out flat "The voice came from the broken seal, in a dead language, and right here in my own office." She looks at me across the candle. "Except I understood it, Wren, and I have never studied the old tongue in my life. It put the meaning straight into my head."The third. Found. I wrap my arms around myself, but the cold I feel isn't the kind a fire can fix."The third what?" I ask.The Headmistress doesn't answer. She's staring at the opened letter on the des

Lyra's PovThe lamp goes out, the washhouse turns dark, but the seal under my finger stays warm.I should drop it, Caora is snarling at me to drop it. Every sensible bone in my body agrees with her.Instead, I did what I always do when something scares me. I got angry."Fine," I mutter. "Let's see what you think my heart is worth." I break the seal.The black wax parts, and the brown paper falls open in my hands, and inside, resting on a bed of dried white flowers, is a pendant.It's a full moon, round and perfect, made of some pale silver metal that seems to hold light the lamp isn't giving anymore. It's beautiful, warm like it's been lying against someone's skin for a thousand years, and the moment I see it, something behind my ribs, in the place where the bond burns, leans toward it.Mine, says a thought that is not quite mine and not quite Caora's. That's mine. I lost that."I've never seen this thing in my life," I whisper.My hand picks it up anyway, and the washhouse disappear

While Nadia smiled at her murderer across a dinner table in the south, the moon turned its face north again, back to the girl whose bond refused to die; seven days had passed at Silverpine too and they had not been kind ones.Lyra's PovLet me tell you how that night ended, because nobody got what they wanted, least of all me.After the light died and the steam rose off the melted circle, the three of us stood in the dark, and the silence got heavier and heavier, until Dorian Kane broke it."Well," he said warmly, the mask sliding back on so smoothly I almost doubted what I'd seen underneath. "It seems the lady has much to think about. My offer stands, Lyra Thorne. My pack lies three valleys east; any road will find it." He bowed to me, like I was somebody. "I have business in the south that can't wait. But we will meet again, I'm certain of it."And he walked into the trees and was gone, just like that, leaving me alone in the snow with the prince who rejected me and the bond that wo

Nadia's PovSeraphine Vale looks straight back at me and smiles, but I do not scream.I want that written somewhere, in some book where the Moon Goddess keeps score. My murderer is standing in my father's doorway, shaking road dust off her cloak, and I stand up, and I smile back, and I say, in a voice that belongs to a well-raised girl with no memories of her past life."Welcome. You must be tired from the road.""Oh, she's lovely," Seraphine says to Dorian, pressing a hand to her heart. Her voice is exactly as I remember it. Sweet and light, like a song you trust before you've heard all the words. "You didn't tell me she was lovely."In my first life, I never met this woman until I was already married. She came to us in my second year as Luna, a gentle healer recommended by a neighboring pack, and I welcomed her with open arms. I was kind to her for two years. I trusted her with my headaches, my sleepless nights, and my secrets.And on the last night of my life, she sat on the edge o

Nadia's PovThe wax cracks beneath my thumb, and for one long moment, nothing in the world moves."Nadia?" My father is still holding the scroll, smiling through his happy tears, and he has no idea that anything is wrong. To him, the seal simply broke, the way old wax does. "Careful, girl. That's the King's blessing you're tearing.""Sorry, Papa." My voice comes out normal; I don't know how I'm able to do that. "Clumsy hands." I finally sayHe laughs and carries the scroll off to show the neighbors, holding it like a newborn. I stand alone in our front room, my thumb pressed against my dress, right where I hid the wax seal.My skin can still remember its faint, steady pulse, like it was alive.I'm sure something felt me touch it. It's the same feeling you get when you know someone is staring at the back of your neck, even before you turn around.Mneme? I call inside. Mneme, talk to me, but she remains silent.For eight years of my first life, my wolf was a quiet, shy little thing, and

Wren's Pov"So," Ansel says softly, "the invisible girl bites."Nobody laughs, and that's how I know how much trouble I'm in.When Ansel makes a joke, the whole school laughs; it's a rule. But right now, a hundred students are holding their breath, because even they can feel that this isn't a joke. This is a hunt, and everyone is watching to see what the three most dangerous wolves in the academy do with what they've caught.I keep my eyes down and hold out the water flask to Delphine. My hand is steady, I don't know how, but it is."Your flask," I say quietly. "You should drink before supper."A hand closes around my wrist, it was Rhys. Up close, his eyes are gray, and they are fixed on my glowing skin where he's touching it. He turns my hand over slowly and studies my palm."No burns," he says. His voice is quiet and rougher than I expected. "You caught half a ton of falling iron, and there's not a mark on you.""The scaffold was lighter than it looked," I say."I watched your feet