Novels by queenwriter4

Chapter 4: Signature on a TreatyMaren POVJudith came into my room at seven with a garment bag over her arm and a cup of tea in her other hand."Sit," she said.I sat on the edge of the bed in my robe. For five days I had said almost nothing in that house. I had packed nothing. I had eaten when someone put food in front of me. I had spent one entire night standing at the window of my room looking at the drive, waiting for a black car that did not come.She unzipped the bag. White silk. High neck, long sleeves, covered buttons down the spine. It had been cut for Sloane. The shoulders were an inch too wide and the waist was an inch too tight, and Judith pinned the difference with quick, practiced hands while I stood on a stool and looked at the wall."The high collar is a good choice," she said. "Modest. The Crown will appreciate it.""I asked for it.""I know you did." She slid a pin through the silk at my hip. "You've been very sensible this week. I told your father you would be."Th

Chapter 3: The AccordMaren POVI stood up. My legs held, and that surprised me."For you," I said."For Dad." Sloane crossed the bathroom and set her phone face-up on the marble counter, next to the sink, so the photographs stayed lit. "Think about who you're doing it for. You've always been good at that.""Doing what?""The Crown Accord." She said it slowly, so I would not miss any of it. "Cedar Ridge signed it eleven years ago. Every decade the Crown takes a daughter from one of the founding packs, and the pack keeps its land and its protection. This decade, it's ours. Dad's office put forward a name three weeks ago." She smiled. "Mine."I looked at Grant. He had his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the carpet."You were going to marry the King," I said."I was going to marry a crown." She picked a thread off her coat sleeve. "Two fiancées, Mare. Both dead before the wedding date. The Palace says poison. The pack says he did it himself. Either way, I'm not interested in being t

Chapter 2: The Mark Before the MorningMaren POVThe room was a suite. A long sofa, a desk buried in papers, a stone fireplace burning low, and a wall of glass with the storm behind it. A man stood at the window with one forearm braced against the pane. Black shirt open at the collar. Head down.I shut the door behind me. The lock clicked, and the sound was far louder than it should have been."Get out." His voice was low and rough. He did not turn around. "Now.""I'm sorry. I thought the room was empty." My knees went, and I caught the back of a chair. "Someone put something in my drink. I can't think. I only need somewhere to sit until it passes."He turned.The firelight gave me the edge of his jaw, a pale scar running from his left brow down to it, and eyes that were gold ringed with silver. They found me and stayed. I stopped breathing.Linnet stopped pacing. All of her went still. Then she shoved forward against my ribs so hard that I took a step toward him before I knew I had m

Chapter 1: The Glass She Handed MeMaren POVThe candle was still lit when the elevator opened on the fortieth floor.I shielded it with my palm. Lemon cake from Maison Verel, one slice-sized tier in a white box, the only dessert Grant ever finished. I had driven across Seattle in the rain to collect it before they closed. The pastry chef had tied the ribbon himself and told me happy birthday without being asked.I was twenty-four as of this morning. My father had texted at six. My stepmother had sent a calendar invite titled Family Dinner, Sunday. Nothing from Grant yet, and I knew why. He had told me last week he was planning something and refused to say what.I had decided to plan something too.Linnet moved under my ribs, restless and warm. My wolf had arrived late, years after everyone else's, and the Cedar Ridge Pack had spent that time looking at me with careful kindness. But she had known Grant from the first second. Mine, she had said, when he took my hand at the Harvest Gath