LOGINAVARAMy legs tremble violently as I attempt to walk away from the horrors of Alpha Silas’ office, from the demons and the Hollow Walkers and the dark, dark magic I had no idea the man I called my father had affiliations with until this evening. Pain erupts through my body in cascading waves, but I fight it, not out of resilience, but out of fear. I’ve learnt this evening that I don’t know who the man, Silas is. But if there is one thing I know, it’s that I’ve not seen the worst of what this man can be. The worst of what he can do."Watch your step," he hisses, not bothering to look at me. "We wouldn't want you collapsing before the ceremony now, would we?"The ceremony.The word detonates somewhere behind my sternum.For a moment, I crane my eyes to their periphery, and briefly contemplate running. But it’s hopeless. I’m weak. I can barely walk and whatever shit the demon doctor shoved into my face is the only thing keeping me steady.Scyla. I should have trusted my intuition long ag
JULIANThe blast of the Great Horn freezes the blood in my veins.No. The word forms in my mind before I can stop it, instinctive and useless. Not yet. Not now.My head snaps toward the window. My heart is doing something irregular and violent in my chest. I was expecting… I don’t really know what, but something to indicate that Avara had been rescued. A siren, sounds of alarm, chaos, anything of that sort before the sound of the Great Horn.I’ve been leaning against the window, pressing my ears against the wall. And yet, nothing. All I’ve met has been silence.But Kaeden is here, has been here for a while in a bid to get Avara.Why hasn’t he gotten to her yet? Or has he tried to do so and failed?The heavy oak doors swing open with a violent crash.My father stands there, silhouetted by the flickering torchlight of the corridor. He looks pristine, his silver coat sharp, his expression unreadable. Behind him, four high-ranking guards stand like statues."The moon is at its peak, Julia
SILASThe vibration of the Great Horn shudders through the floorboards of my office, a deep, mournful lowing that signals the start of the seventh night. At the sound of it, my fingers tighten around the rim of my glass.I turn toward the tall arched window, jaw set, and watch the darkness beyond the glass as the distant chorus rises and multiplies, wolves answering wolves across the grounds, across the treeline, the entire pack being drawn into the sacred call like iron shavings to a lodestone.Shit.I exhale slowly through my nose and allow myself a single moment of pure, private irritation.I had been certain. Absolutely, architecturally certain, that he was back at the pack, looking for Avara. I was certain that he would somehow, figure out that she was in my chambers with me. I prepared for it.I invited it.My gaze moves slowly across the room.The traps are still there. Still perfect. Still waiting and with them, the demons, Hollow Walkers, Lamashtus all set in place to make a
KAEDEN"Which means we need the move." Torin looks at me. "Now."I stand at the shadows of the clearing, looking up at the mansion, my mind resolved. As much as I desperately wish to play the saviour, I have to wait."We wait," I say.Torin's head comes up. "For?""We wait until they bring her out for the ceremony."Myra frowns. “But how does that make sense? You’re talking about going up to face a battalion, when we can choose a subtler approach. I mean, we might have a troop, but it’s barely enough to upend a battallion of werewolves on a full moon.”"Exactly,” Torin agrees. “He has her, Kaeden. Right now. If we storm the office, we end the head of the snake before it can bite.""And you don’t think that he has guessed that we might form that plan? The most obvious step to take? The easiest one? You think he hasn’t worked with the hopes that we might do so and fall straight into his trap?”I look at Myra, who is watching me with that strange expression she has borne ever since my in
KAEDENI move through the outer corridors like smoke, every step measured, every breath controlled, every sense stretched to its fullest reach, trying to make sure that I am not seen, a task that is proving to be very challenging.There are too many guards. Which means that he knows I am coming. Silas is a lot of things, but foolish is not one of them.The patrol rotations have been doubled, guards are littered across the lining, many of them already transformed into their wolf forms, ready for attack.I’d bet that many of them do not even know what they are lined up for. Which is what I can use to my advantage. Although my recent stunts in trying to retrieve Avara from her imprisonment might work against me in this respect. I should have just used magic.I press into the cold stone of the wall as two warriors cross the corridor ahead, their voices clipped and low. Perhaps it is not enough to just stay hidden, and my stunts may be ineffective this time around.I let a thread of magic
SILASI stand in my office, listening to the drums that started beating a few minutes ago, in commemoration of the Howling that will be commencing this evening.I adjust the clasp of my ceremonial coat and regard my reflection in the obsidian mirror mounted on the office wall. The coat is black silk, and threaded with dark silver sigils. In the lamplight the sigils shimmer faintly, shifting as I move, the way living things shift.I look exactly as I should tonight. Unquestionable. Immovable. The embodiment of an authority so complete and so long-established that challenging it should feel, to any rational mind, like challenging the ground beneath one's feet. I should feel this authority, should, in fact, feel somewhat triumphant at what I have planned to happen tonight.Instead, there is a cold, prickling sensation at the nape of my neck.Kaeden.He is here. Not in this room, not yet, but the air vibrates with his intent. He didn’t just storm out after our confrontation; he vanished w
KAEDENYou would not believe that it is about the break of dawn, with the sheer darkness of this place. The darkness is so dense, it feels like it’s wrapped around me, suffocating me.We took too long getting here. Too damn long. I fear that my father may have finished his business and left.But to
AVARAI pace the floor of my room, the cold night air clinging to my skin, reminding me that I had the interaction that I just had with Kaeden in one of my most, well, private night gowns. It takes me a while to realise why I am pacing about, restless and distraught. The two reasons.The major one
AVARAThe smell of Elias Kore’s office is a suffocating mixture of dried herbs and old parchment. Scattered round his table and his gigantic office, is piles upon piles of books, some of them as old as a millennia. As the lorekeeper, he has knowledge of the contents of every single book, to keep the
KAEDENAvara is leaning against the doorframe, her expression unreadable. She isn’t wearing the green silk gown from the banquet anymore. She is instead, in a thin, translucent nightgown that leaves very little to the imagination. Fenris lets out a low, predatory purr that vibrates in my chest.“Loo







