LOGINChapter 6MalachiThe scream cut through Thornridge like a blade.I was running before I realized my feet had moved.Years of training had erased the need to think.The marketplace blurred around me as we rounded the corner toward the eastern street.Five hybrids stood in the middle of the road.Not hiding.Not fleeing.Waiting.They looked almost human until you truly saw them.Silver wolf eyes.Black veins crawling beneath pale skin.Fangs that had no business belonging to wolves.One smiled.The expression wasn't natural.It was hunger.A frightened woman stumbled backward, clutching a little boy behind her.The hybrid lunged.He never reached them.Nightreaver flashed between them in a streak of black steel.Atlas drove the creature sideways, his shoulder crashing into it with enough force to send them both tumbling across the street.The remaining hybrids scattered.Exactly as we'd feared they would.To overwhelm us.To force us apart.Bastian's eyes swept over all of us.Mine.At
EsmeThe rider hit the cobblestones so hard I felt the impact through my knees."Atlas!"He was already there, catching the man before his head struck the stone a second time. I dropped beside them, my fingers immediately searching for a pulse beneath the grime and dried blood coating his neck."There," I breathed. "It's weak."His breathing came in ragged, uneven gasps. Deep claw marks tore across his chest, his leather jerkin hanging in shredded strips that were dark with blood. Several bite wounds ringed his forearm, and one shoulder looked as though something had tried to tear it clean from its socket.The horse staggered another few steps before collapsing in the middle of the road.Its sides heaved violently.It had carried him as far as it could.The rider coughed.Blood stained his lips."They're..." he rasped.I leaned closer."Don't speak."His frightened eyes locked onto mine."...coming..."His body sagged against Atlas.For one terrifying moment, I thought we'd lost him.
Chapter 4AtlasThe nightmare had become a familiar visitor.Every few nights it found me, dragging me back into Bjorn's forge.The roar of the flames.The scent of hot steel.Malvaris standing impossibly still amidst the chaos.Then those ancient crimson eyes finding Esme.Every.Single.Time.I woke with a sharp breath, my heart pounding against my ribs.For a moment, instinct took over.My arm tightened around the warm body curled against my side.Only when she stirred did the panic begin to ease."Mmm..." Esme mumbled sleepily, nuzzling closer instead of pulling away. "You're squeezing me.""Sorry."She cracked one emerald eye open before smiling."Another nightmare?"I let out a slow breath."I'm beginning to miss the ones where Calyx lectures me about improper filing systems."A sleepy laugh escaped her."Those sound terrifying.""You've never seen his color-coded charts.""I have.""They're horrifying."She laughed again, the sound chasing away the last remnants of the dream.I
Chapter 3BjornThe Council chambers had never been my favorite place.Too many voices.Too many people convinced they already knew the answer.I remained standing while the councilors settled into their seats around the circular table. The room overlooked Thornridge through a wall of tall windows, morning sunlight spilling across polished stone that had witnessed more arguments than decisions.Councilor Harrington broke the silence."Master Bjorn, thank you for coming."I inclined my head."You requested this meeting.""We did."He rested both hands on the report lying open before him."The attack on your forge has raised... a number of questions.""Aye.""We've spoken with the guards.""The apprentices.""The merchants who were nearby.""Even several students from Rosewood."He frowned."They all describe the same battle.""But none of them seem to understand why it happened.""They wouldn't."Several councilors exchanged glances.Councilor Brenner leaned forward."Then perhaps you
Chapter 2 CalyxI'd read the same paragraph three times.I still couldn't tell you what it said.With a quiet sigh, I lowered the book onto my lap and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Magical resonance theory usually fascinated me, but this morning every line blurred into the next before I'd finished reading it.It wasn't the book's fault.It was the room.Atlas sat at the dining table with a stack of letters spread out before him, occasionally scratching another note onto parchment before setting it aside. Mal occupied most of the sofa despite being the only person on it, one arm thrown over the back as he sharpened one of his hunting knives with slow, practiced strokes. Ezekiel had disappeared into a mountain of medical texts, occasionally making notes in the margins with the kind of focus that suggested the rest of us had ceased to exist.Across the room, tucked into the window seat with sunlight spilling over her shoulder, Esme turned another page.Not of a textbook.One of the leath
Chapter 1 Esme EsmeThe door clicked softly behind me as I slipped out of Atlas's suite.For a moment, I simply stood there, listening. Silence. Good.Atlas had insisted I wake him if I planned on heading to the forge before sunrise. I fully intended to... right up until I'd watched him finally fall into a deep sleep. The shadows beneath his eyes hadn't faded since the attack, and I wasn't about to wake him for the sake of keeping a promise he'd probably forget I'd made. He could be annoyed with me over breakfast.I smiled to myself as I made my way down the familiar hall and stepped through the portal. The shift in magic lasted only a heartbeat before the cool morning air of Thornridge greeted me.Home.Not Rosewood.Not the little house I'd grown up in.This place.The forge.It still surprised me sometimes how quickly it had become my favorite place in the world. There was something comforting about walking into the same room every morning. Every hammer hung where it belonged. Ever
Hands grabbed at me from every direction.Someone twisted my arm behind my back while another yanked my hair, forcing my head back. Pain shot down my neck as their shouting blended into one overwhelming roar.“Hold her!”“Don’t let her run!”“Teach the little rat her place!”I struggled, trying to
Lyria stumbled backward when I shoved her.Her heel caught on a loose rock and she went down hard, landing on her hands with a sharp gasp. The impact scraped her palms across the rough stones scattered along the road.For a moment, everything went quiet.I stood there breathing hard, my chest risin
I stood there staring at the dirt and the toes of my worn shoes.I knew better than to speak first.Makayla enjoyed making people wait. Making them remember their place.“Esmeralda Cantari,” she finally said, her voice sharp enough to cut skin. “Still as useless as ever.”I kept my head bowed.“It
I hadn’t been back here since they sent me to Rosewood.If they hadn’t demanded I return to collect the rest of our belongings, I never would have come back at all. The coven had already taken possession of the house—claiming it belonged to them under their precious guidelines. A house that had bee







