LOGINThe first assassination attempt came three days later.I was in the council chambers reviewing reports when an arrow punched through the window and embedded itself in the chair where my head had been moments before.I'd bent down to pick up a dropped document.Pure luck.Through the bond, Caspian's alarm exploded. He was in the training yards but he felt my spike of fear immediately.Guards burst into the room, surrounding me. Ezra appeared from nowhere, already moving toward the window."Rooftop across the courtyard," he said, scanning. "They're gone."I stared at the arrow. Black fletching. No markings.Professional."That's the third attempt this week," Ezra said grimly. "Poison in your food. The sabotaged staircase. Now this.""Someone's getting desperate.""Someone wants you dead before the corruption does the job for them." He pulled the arrow from the chair, examining it. "They're not even trying to hide it anymore."Caspian arrived within minutes, still in training clothes, br
"Get the healer," Caspian called out, his voice deadly calm. "Now."He was staring at my wrist where the shadows moved beneath my skin. Slow. Deliberate. Like something alive.Through the bond, I felt his terror."It doesn't hurt," I said. Which was true. The pain had dulled. That should've been reassuring.It wasn't."That's worse." Caspian carefully rewrapped the bandage. "If you can't feel it spreading, we don't know how far it's gone."The healer arrived within minutes. The same older woman who'd treated me after the blood ritual. She took one look at my wrist and her face went pale."Shade corruption," she said quietly. "I was afraid of this.""What does that mean?" I asked."The Shade's touch doesn't just damage flesh, it leaves behind... fragments. Pieces of the void it came from." She unwrapped my wrist fully, examining the blackened skin. "It spreads slowly. Quietly. Until it reaches something vital.""How do we stop it?""I don't know." Her honesty was refreshing if terrifyi
I woke to pain.Not the sharp kind. The deep, throbbing kind that said my body had been through hell and was done cooperating.My hands were wrapped in thick bandages. My wrist was black and purple, spreading up my forearm like a bruise. My broken leg had been reset and braced properly.I was in our chambers. Sunlight streamed through the windows.How long had I been out?Caspian sat in a chair beside the bed, his head in his hands. He hadn't noticed I was awake yet.Through the bond, I felt his exhaustion. His fear. His guilt eating him alive."Hey," I said quietly.His head snapped up. Relief flooded through the bond so intensely it took my breath away."You're awake." He was beside me in seconds, his hands hovering over me like he wanted to touch but was afraid of hurting me. "How do you feel?""Like I fought a demon from the void and won.""You did." His smile was small. Strained. "The healer said you'll recover. The burns will scar. Your wrist, the frostbite damage is extensive b
Morgessa smiled. Slow and dangerous."Congratulations, Your Majesty," she said, her voice dripping with mockery. "You won. You got your crown. I hope it was worth it.""What do you want?" I asked.Caspian was already moving, positioning himself between us. Through the bond, I felt his rage. His certainty that Morgessa was here to cause damage."To deliver a message." Her green eyes glowed faintly. "From people who don't accept your rule. Who will never accept it.""Then they can come tell me themselves," I said."Oh, they will." Morgessa's smile widened. "Sooner than you think."She pulled something from her robes.A vial.Dark liquid swirled inside, glowing with sickly green light."Don't," Caspian warned, his voice deadly quiet.Morgessa threw it at my feet.It shattered.Dark liquid spread across the stone floor. And where it touched, the stone began to smoke. To melt. To burn.Not poison.Magic.The liquid carved symbols into the floor as it spread. Ancient markings I recognized f
The Council chamber was colder than I remembered.Or maybe that was just the blood loss.I limped into the room, Caspian on one side, Ezra on the other. My broken leg was wrapped and braced, but every step sent pain shooting up my spine. The symbols from the blood ritual still glowed faintly on my skin, visible through the gaps in my hastily thrown-on clothes.I looked like hell.Good.Let them see what their tests had cost me.The Council sat in a semicircle, seven ancient lycans who'd held power for centuries. Lord Draven at the center, his expression carefully neutral. Beside him, Morgessa's proxy, a thin woman with cold eyes. Three elder house representatives. And Lady Isolde Winters, the only one who looked uncomfortable with what was happening.Lady Seraphine took her seat last, her face unreadable."This session is convened," Draven said formally. "We are here to address the events of last night and determine whether the coronation should proceed as scheduled.""There's nothing
The streets were chaos.Flames leapt from building to building in the merchant district, spreading faster than natural fire should. People ran screaming, carrying children, dragging elderly family members through smoke-choked air.Caspian shifted mid-stride, his lycan form tearing through his clothes. He disappeared into the burning district without hesitation.I ran after him.My hands throbbed. The symbols on my skin burned hot again from exertion. But I didn't stop.A woman stumbled past me, clutching a crying child."The baker's shop," she gasped. "There are people trapped inside."I changed direction, heading toward the flames.The baker's shop was an inferno. The door was blocked by fallen debris. Through the windows, I could see shapes moving inside. Trapped.I grabbed a fallen beam and tried to lever the debris away from the door.My bandaged hands screamed in protest. Blood soaked through the wrappings.Fuck it.I kept pulling."Move!" A voice shouted behind me.Ezra appeared
We left at dawn.Caspian drove. I sat in the passenger seat trying not to throw up from nerves.David had left yesterday, heading back to his own life. Wherever that was. He'd hugged me before he left, whispered "don't let the bastards get you down," and disappeared like the cryptic asshole he was.
The symptoms got worse over the next few days.I couldn't keep anything down. Water, crackers, the bland soup David tried to make. Everything came back up within an hour. My body ached constantly, exhausted from throwing up and the lack of sleep.And Caspian barely spoke to me.He'd moved to the co
Caspian's phone rang at three in the morning.I jerked awake, disoriented, reaching for a gun that wasn't there. The safe house bedroom was dark except for the glow of Caspian's screen as he answered."Talk," he said, voice rough with sleep.I couldn't hear the other side of
The next morning, I woke up sore.Not the bad kind of sore. The kind that came from Caspian proving, repeatedly, that he was very happy about me agreeing to be his queen.Worth it.I stretched, felt muscles protest, and immediately decided I didn't care.Caspian was already awake, sitting shirtless







