LOGIN''Audrey's POV''The thing about finding a bomb under your car at two in the morning is that it reframes your entire evening.Twenty minutes ago my biggest problem was a boy who kissed his betrothed and a father who'd been murdered and a letter that ended mid-sentence and approximately seventeen other things I'd been stress-organizing into priority order like a very unwell project manager.Now there was a bomb.Progress, technically. Very clear priority order. Bomb first. Everything else later."I'm going to need everyone to stay calm," I said, to the garage."I am calm," Adrian said."I'm not calm," Theo said, from the doorway, where he'd appeared thirty seconds after Adrian's watch buzzed wearing one shoe and an expression of profound personal betrayal. "My runes didn't work. My runes have never not worked. This is a crisis within a crisis and I need a moment.""You can have a moment after.""How long after.""After the bomb, Theo.""Right." He came fully into the garage and crouche
Audrey's POVHere is a list of things I did not do after Raphael told me someone had been hired to kill me at a legitimate inter-academy racing event:Panic. Cry. Call my mother, who was in Tuscany and didn't know about the supernatural elements of my life and would have opinions. Eat the granola bar in my jacket pocket that had been there since Tuesday and was probably fine.Here is what I did do:Found Adrian.He was in the east lot running car checks on his qualifying vehicle with the methodical focus of someone who treated preparation like a religion. I appeared at his elbow and said, "I need to tell you something and I need you to not immediately make a face about it."He turned and looked at me and immediately made a face about it."That's the face," I said. "I specifically said—""What happened.""The Ironveil driver. Number seven. Mira Vanek." I kept my voice low, pit lane still busy enough to cover a conversation if you were careful about it. "She's not here to race. She's be
""Audrey's POV""I found out about the race the same way I found out about most things at Warner Academy — through Theo, who had found out through a rune he'd accidentally activated on the notice board while trying to fix a lightbulb."There's a race," he said, appearing in my doorway at seven in the morning with the energy of someone who had been awake for two hours and had been physically restraining himself from telling me for most of them.I was sitting on my bed with my father's unfinished letter, Celeste Vance's business card, and the specific emotional hangover of a girl who had spent the night discovering that the boy she was bonded to might have known his father helped fund her father's murder, and had not yet decided what to do with any of it."A race," I said."Inter-academy invitational. Legitimate. No supernatural elements, no blood moon, no council, just cars and a track and prize money." He held up his phone. "Dumont Academy is competing."I looked at him."Raphael's sc
Audrey's POV""I locked my bedroom door.First time I'd done that since moving in. The lock was stiff from disuse and made a sound like a small complaint, but it caught, and the room went quiet in the specific way of a space that has been deliberately separated from everything outside it.I sat on the bed.The envelope was on the nightstand where it had been sitting for two weeks, which was frankly embarrassing. I'd survived a Blood Moon Race and a Pack Council execution threat and a tracker in Geneva and I'd been defeated by a wax seal.My father's handwriting on the front."For Audrey. When you're ready.""I'm ready," I said, to no one. Then, quieter: "I think."I picked it up.The wax seal broke cleanly, like it had been waiting. Inside was a single folded sheet and a smaller envelope tucked behind it, sealed separately, no writing on the front. I set the smaller one aside and unfolded the letter.His handwriting was exactly as I remembered it. Slightly rushed, leaning right, the l
Audrey's POVI noticed it at breakfast.Nothing dramatic. Just Luca, who had spent the entire previous day existing in whatever room I was in like it was his personal mission, suddenly sitting at the end of the table like I had a restraining order.I noticed. Said nothing. Made my coffee and watched him pretend to read his phone with the convincing performance of a man who had never once actually been bad at anything and was discovering today was the exception.Through the bond I felt it. Not pain. Something worse — the specific texture of a thing being held very carefully by someone who knew it was already broken.Theo came in, took one look at the room, and became extremely interested in the toaster.Adrian came in, looked at Luca, looked at me, poured his coffee, and left. Which from Adrian was a whole dissertation.I ate my toast. Luca pretended to read. The kitchen did its morning thing around the massive unaddressed thing sitting in the middle of it."Sleep okay?" I said."Fine,
Audrey's POVLiving with three bonded mates at a racing academy was never quiet. Between investigating my father’s murder and dealing with a surprise guest, "normal" was hard to find.But today was normal.It started with Luca stealing my coffee. He didn't do it by mistake. He looked me right in the eye, picked up my cup, and took a sip."That's mine," I said."Yours is right there." He pointed at the machine where a new cup was brewing."That one isn't ready yet.""This one is." He looked totally calm while committing his coffee crime."Luca, I swear...""The one in the machine has your name on it," he said, taking another sip.I snatched it back. He let me. He had that small, smug smile of a man who got exactly what he wanted: he wanted me awake and annoyed."You did that on purpose," I said."I did," he agreed. "You're more fun when you're mad.""That is the most irritating thing you've ever said to me.""Good morning, Audrey," he said softly.It was Saturday. No classes, no traini







