Se connecterMorning arrived with a calm that unsettled Freya more than any storm ever could. There was no punishment delivered after Winter’s inevitable complaints. The silence stretched on, and Freya found herself wishing—foolishly—that he would simply call for her and be done with it.This quiet was worse.“His Majesty and Her Majesty are having breakfast inside,” a maid informed her, “They’re waiting for you.”The woman’s smile lingered a moment too long, knowing in a way that made Freya’s skin prickle. That alone was enough to tighten her chest. Valtor never invited her to breakfast. Not like this. As she walked through the corridors, hushed laughter followed. She heard maids whispering, eyes darting toward her and then away again. Each step made her pulse pound harder.Rosentine and Cressida were nowhere to be found. The plans from the night before had been theirs as much as hers, yet now Freya was left to face the consequences alone. Cowards.And now she would stand before Valtor without
“Now can we talk about what made you come all this way? There’s no chance you followed me here without a reason. Something must have happened.” Valtor said quietly, his voice low but firm.After her conversation with Kallias, Winter finally asked the man to leave. He did so without protest, retreating from the room with a respectful bow. Only then did she turn back to her mate.Valtor had been waiting just outside the room. The moment she stepped into the corridor, she saw the worry, tangled with jealousy and a sharp edge of irritation, written all over his face. He looked like a man who had fought every instinct not to barge into the room. But when Winter met his gaze calmly and offered him a small, reassuring smile, some of that tension finally eased from his shoulders.Talking with Kallias had distracted her briefly from the unease Freya had left behind at the castle. Now that she was with Valtor again, the weight returned, but it felt lighter somehow, as if being near him steadied
Winter was shocked.'What? Their baby was gone?'“It happened that night,” Kallias continued quietly. “At your wedding party. Crystal and I argued, nothing serious, or so I thought. Then the incident happened.”Winter said nothing. She hadn’t expected him to continue, but he did. His shoulders sagged beneath an invisible weight, desperation etched into every line of his face. The regret in his voice was unmistakable. And for the briefest moment, an unsettling thought crossed her mind.What if he’s right?What if Crystal truly was hiding here?“She isn’t only angry at me,” Kallias went on. “She’s angry at you as well.”Winter’s gaze sharpened.“She knows I would search for her everywhere, including here," he said. “Knowing no one would believe me. Crystal knew I would confront Valtor and that if I failed to find her it would push me toward war, a war that would endanger both our people.”Silence fell.Winter absorbed his words slowly, weighing each implication.“And would you?” she ask
3rd Person's POVRelief settled in Winter’s chest when she finally reached her husband and at last they could speak. Then her gaze shifted and she saw Kallias Thorn standing in the same room. The calm expression on Winter’s face vanished at once, replaced by sharp caution as her eyes narrowed. Her body stiffened, instincts rising unbidden.What was he doing here?“Kallias?” she said slowly, testing the name, as if half-expecting the figure before her to dissolve into illusion.He didn’t answer.Kallias only stared at her with something unsettling flickering in his gaze. And the more Winter looked at him, the more wrong everything seemed.She had never seen Kallias like this. He was thinner as if something had been steadily devouring him from the inside. The weight loss sharpened the lines of his face, hollowed his cheeks, carved shadows beneath his eyes that no amount of rest could erase. He looked like a man dragged from a nightmare and hurled into waking reality, driven here as if
VALTORLoran hadn’t lied. Kallias Thorn was waiting when I arrived at the border headquarters, the outpost closest to his Pack’s territory. And he was alone.“I’ve been waiting here far too long,” Kallias said as soon as he saw me. “And I never wait this long just to meet someone.”Earlier, I’d instructed my guards to confine him to a secured room. If he had come with hidden intentions, I wanted to be certain he wouldn’t vanish before I confronted him myself. Now, we stood face-to-face, the air between us thick with restrained hostility.My gaze swept over him, assessing, measuring.Magnus would have sensed hostile intent the moment Kallias crossed our borders. But instead, what my wolf felt was something else entirely.Submission.That unsettled me far more than aggression ever could.“Perhaps you should first know who it is you’re demanding an audience with.” I took a step closer. “What brings you to my territory?”The words left my mouth rough, edged with displeasure. I didn’t trus
WINTERMy breath came in ragged bursts, the snarl still lingering in my chest.“Oh Goddess…she’s attacked me…” Freya whispered, her eyes widening as she stared in disbelief at her own hand.Blood streaked her skin, a deep slash cutting from the back of her palm almost to her elbow. The wound wasn’t fatal, but it bled freely, staining her hand a vivid red.“That woman is monstrous,” Rosentine said, stepping closer to Freya, her gaze narrowing on me with an intensity that burned. “What are you doing? This is completely unnecessary.”As the fury inside me ebbed, leaving a jagged calm in its wake, I looked down at my own hands. Blood clung to my fingertips. My wolf nails, which I hadn’t controlled, hadn’t even meant to summon, were gone as suddenly as they’d appeared. I had hurt Freya. Yet strangely, there was no regret, only a strange, sharp relief that Khione’s reflexes had been faster than mine, protecting me before it could have been worse.“Blood…” the blind seer murmured, inhaling







