LOGIN~Valeria~"If this doesn't work, I'm throwing the ring in the trash."My father looked up from where he was setting up the clearing. "You're not throwing a centuries-old magical artifact in the trash.""Watch me."We were back in t
~Valeria~"Why?" I asked. "Wouldn't the Dark Wolf King use a service door?""He'll use whatever's least guarded. If we stack the public entrances, he'll try service doors. If we stack service doors, he'll try public. So we stack everything and force him to fight his way in.""That assumes he comes through a door at all," Caius said. "He could come through a window. Through the r
~Valeria~"I'm not standing twenty feet away from Val during her coronation."Alerion was the first to speak.We'd been at this for fifteen minutes and already things were falling apart."Nobody said twenty feet," Michael replied,
~Valeria~The Royal Council chamber was exactly as uncomfortable as the last time I'd been here. Magistrate Reeves was talking about ceremony protocols. Something about processional orders and formal blessings and where everyone would stand.I was half-listening. The other half of my brain was tracking Blackwell's stare and wondering when he'd finally say whatever he was thinking.
~Lysander~Michael was quiet for a moment. "I can help. But my training isn't gentle. It's not safe. And if your brothers find out.""They won't.""They will eventually. You can't hide that kind of improvement.""I'll deal with tha
~Lysander~Zane was checking my temperature.Again.For the third time today.I slapped his hand away. "I don't have a fever."
~Valeria~I kept having the same weird dream, and it was starting to freak me out.Every night for the past week, I'd close my eyes and boom, there I was, standing in some forest I'd never seen before. And right in front of me was this huge castle.Not like the Disney kind with sparkly towers. This
~Valeria~I was pretty sure the guy with the newspaper was going to follow me home and suffocate me in my sleep.Okay, maybe that was too out of line, but he'd been sitting at the same table for three hours pretending to read about local boring drama while watching every move Michael and I made. An
~Valeria~The photo felt like it was burning a hole in my backpack as I walked back to the library the next day.I'd spent the entire night staring at it, trying to convince myself I was imagining things. But every time I looked at that little girl's posture, the way she leaned into the man's prote
~Caius~I'd seen enough interrogations to recognize when someone was fishing for information, and Michael was practically casting a net every time he talked to Valeria.The kid was good though. Had that perfect balance of casual interest and helpful concern that made people want to spill their secr







