“Put… me… down,” he rasped.His voice was weak but the hostility in it shocked me.“I’m taking you inside,” I said quietly.“No!” His small hands twitched like claws against my chest.“Carl, stop.” Esther’s voice cracked. “He’s helping.”The boy’s eyes darted to hers, then back to me. His lip curled
Esther’s POVI’d barely closed the infirmary door when the vibration against my hip startled me. My phone pulsed with a message from the caretaker assigned to the twins in the guest wing:Kids won’t nap. Acting restless. Asking for you.I stared at the text until it blurred. They’d been restless for
Kevin’s mouth tightened. “Three months?”“Yes,” I whispered.He leaned closer. “If he hurts you—”“He won’t.” My lie burned my throat.Finally he let out a harsh breath, stepped back, and gave a sharp nod. “Fine.”I exhaled shakily.He turned to go, casting Nicholas one last look of pure loathing. T
Esther’s POVKevin’s scent reached me before his voice did. Pine and iron, sharp as a storm front. I’d been in the palace infirmary checking inventory when the alarms rippled through the halls. There were raised voices, hurried boots, then a Beta’s barked orders. By the time I reached the main hall,
Tully shut his mouth.I let the silence stretch. The guards along the wall straightened unconsciously, their eyes glittering with the thrill of watching a predator bare its teeth.Then, without raising my voice, I pronounced, “Elder Tully, you are removed from the council, effective immediately.”Ga
The council chamber reeked of fear disguised as protocol.It always smelled faintly of parchment and polished stone, but this morning there was something sour under the incense. There was a tremor of adrenaline masked as decorum. Sunlight lanced through the tall stained-glass windows of the Blood Mo