Mag-log inThe crowd cheered, but none were louder than our excited children.Ivan’s POVIt was good of Claire to invite me to her wedding. I’d thought for a while that I might avoid the whole thing, but now that I was here, that I could be surrounded by the obvious love between the pair, I was glad that I had
Claire’s POVThe day of our wedding, I couldn’t stop looking at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a flowing white dress that Leo and Nova had helped me pick out. My hair was done up in a bun. I barely recognized myself, so put together and done up.“You look like a princess,” Nova said from nearby
Gideon’s POVI kissed Claire with my full heart, then held her close. She giggled, pressed into the safety of my arms.“We can talk about it now,” she said. “Or you could kiss me again. I liked that.”“I want to,” I told her truly. “I don’t want to stop kissing you. But after all this, I want to see
Claire’s POVI was dragged out of the trunk roughly by my arms, then shoved down into the dirt at Daphne’s feet.Quickly, I glanced around, but I didn’t really recognize where I was. A forest, but I had no idea which one. Tents were set up here and there and people I didn’t know milled about. This m
George glanced over, seeing me in the dim interior light.“He loves you,” he said.“He does.”“Do you love him, too?”“Yes,” I said. It came out easier than I thought it would. “Yes, I do,” I said again, to be sure. This time was just as easy.“Good,” George said. “Gideon is a good man, a brave and
Claire’s POVWe had a handful of hours before we needed to leave for the exchange. In that time, George had me fitted for body armor.“They will likely attempt to remove it from you,” he said. “But try to keep it on for as long as you can. I don’t know what kind of torture they will attempt, but thi
Claire’s POVMy panic was on a fast uptick as I faced off against Gideon. We had both heard Ivan’s howl, and while this had given me some measure of relief, it also made things seem more dire in the moment. Gideon was visibly tensing. If he felt himself backed into a corner, he might try to act befo
“You can’t find Nova,” I said, realizing that in my panic, I hadn’t called him. “I’m sorry, I should have told you.”“You know where she is?”“She tried to stowaway,” I said. “I sent her back to the pack with one of the warriors. They should be back soon. Maybe she conned him into getting her ice cr
Gideon’s POVAfter Ivan said those things to me, I knew for sure that he wasn’t going to be convinced to allow me to cross the border. So I pretended to leave so as to not cause problems.But I didn’t return home. Instead, I lingered in the shadows, waiting for the perfect opportunity to sneak back
“Thank you, Peter,” I said.“Give my regards to our home,” Peter replied.With Leo protected now, I had no more reasons to stay. Nova had taken the news of our departure relatively well. For a long time now, she had been torn between two homes. I knew she loved Leo and liked Gideon, but she didn’t r







