LOGINLyraI stepped forward with my hands out. "Nadia. Let's just go home."She stumbled back from me, a tight frown on her face."We have plenty waiting at home," I said carefully. "You can drink as much as you want once we're there."Nadia shook her head. "No, no. There's a place, it's not far, we could..."I cut her off. "The ones at home are better.""No, that one's closer." She pointed off down the path, wide and wild. "We could get some and come right back. Nobody would even notice we'd gone. And the walk would do us good, it's nice out." The words were coming faster now, falling over each other. "It's five minutes. Ten, maybe. We'd be back before you knew it, and then we could sit like Odile said, we could sit as long as you want.""Nadia." I tried again but she went straight over the top of me."And we could get some for Odile as well, she'd like that. And something for Lord Aldous too, after he's come all this way looking for me. That's only decent, isn't it? It's the sensible thi
(I'm very sorry about the error in the last chapter. Chapter 451 and 452 has been posted here. The error would have been sorted by the plaform on Monday.)LyraWe stumbled along the edge of the palace grounds as dusk fell, the sky gone pink and orange over the rooftops. Odile had her arms spread wide to take in the breeze."I can't believe I've never seen the sun go down before," she breathed. "It's like the whole sky is on fire.""Welcome to the great outdoors." I swayed and caught myself. "Just be glad it isn't raining."Nadia was clinging to my arm for support, her hair wild and tangled. She smiled vaguely at me but said nothing. She had been quiet all evening, which was not like her at all. I patted her hand and kept us both moving.Odile skipped ahead on the gravel, her thin dress fluttering around her legs, then whirled back to face us with an enormous grin."I'm drunk," she confessed. "Is that what the fresh air does?""No, that's the brandy."She laughed and came back and slip
IrinaMe arrastró por otro pasillo y empujó abierto un pesado juego de puertas dobles. El aire helado de la noche me golpeó el rostro al instante. Salimos hacia un amplio balcón de piedra con vista al patio inferior del torreón.El ruido era ensordecedor. Fosos de fuego masivos y rugientes bañaban todo el patio en un resplandor naranja violento y titilante.Me soltó la muñeca y se paró directamente detrás de mí. Las manos pesadas se le cerraron firmemente sobre mis hombros, obligándome a pararme cerca de la baranda de piedra y mirar por encima del borde.—Míralos —comandó justo junto a mi oído.Miré hacia abajo, al patio, y la respiración se me fue por completo de los pulmones.Era un espectáculo absoluto y sin restricción de sexo crudo y primitivo. Había fácilmente más de cien lobos allá abajo. La gran mayoría estaban completamente desnudos, la ropa descartada en la nieve o lanzada sobre las mesas de madera.Justo debajo del balcón, bañado en la luz del fuego, un guerrero masivo tení
Lyra— Earlier that evening. Valdris. —I stared at Nadia's face, searching for anything in her eyes. A flicker of understanding. Anger. Surprise. Something.Nothing came. I had no idea what to say. Not a single word."I don't know," I muttered finally. Idiot. It was barely a deflection. Barely an answer at all.I felt Odile's eyes on the back of my neck. I wanted her to leave but that wasn't going to happen. There was no graceful way to tell her to get out and I wasn't feeling particularly graceful.I looked down at the wad of soggy paper towels in my hands. "I just can't have Sera calling and asking about you. Not right now. Okay?"I was just talking. Grasping at dead ends. There was no right now. There was no good time.Nadia just looked at me. I breathed in sharply, waiting for her to unload. To let me have it. But she didn't. She just went quiet. Hard eyes and silence. I would rather she had shouted at me.I dropped the wet towels and sat back on my heels and dried my hands on my
SeraVane's eyes met mine, calm and level. "If it had been anyone else she was asking, Luna, you would have been handed exactly what you were after."I did not flinch. Not a flicker of an eyelid or a twitch of a lip. I gave him nothing at all.He went on, his tone measured, a little dry. "You could have come to me yourself and asked. If you wanted to know so badly, I would have told you what you needed."I nodded. "Right."But that had never been the problem.The problem was that I might have been asking a man who stood in league with the very thing I was digging at. A man who might be part of a plot to bring down my own mate. If I had walked up to him and asked, I would have handed him the fact that I knew, and there is no undoing that once it is done. The risk had been too high.He knew anyway now. And I still could not tell him a single thing.So I said the only words that cost me nothing. "I'm sorry. I was only curious."Vane inclined his head and accepted it. He gave me a small w
SeraThe hall was a cacophony of shouting and scraping benches and thumping feet. The stench of blood and sweat hung heavy in the heat. I sat at the high table with my back straight, keeping my breathing even.The fight on the cleared floor had ended and the crowd was breaking up around it. I took a slice of pork off my plate and bit into it and did not once take my eyes off the churning mass below me. Most of them had stayed to argue over the spilled ale and settle their bets.Then I saw Mina walking away from Vane's table.My stomach twisted watching her go. Something was wrong. Her shoulders were up and her head was down and her steps were too fast. She looked like a woman trying not to run.I swallowed the food down a tight throat.A few minutes later I caught her again, at the edge of the cleared floor, turning away from a young man.I had seen him before. Standing at the edge of a crowd somewhere near Taya, once, while she laughed at something with somebody else. I could not hav
SeraNight fell fast, and with it, the temperature plummeted. We had three fires going, but the heat didn't seem to travel more than six inches past the flames. I sat on a log by the middle fire, pulling the wagon fur around my shoulders, shivering so hard my teeth were literally clicking together.
LyraShe ignored me. She dropped to her knees, her hands sliding down to the waistband of my trousers. She shoved her fingers inside the fabric, gripping my hips tight. With one sharp pull, she dragged the pants and my underwear down to my ankles. I stepped out of them, kicking my boots off in the
Lyra"Tell the girl to step into the room," he said."Leave her out of this," I said. My voice came out as a pathetic, raspy whisper. I cleared my throat, trying to find some spine. "She didn't do anything. It was my idea to come in here.""Tell her to step into the room," he said, his eyes going d
LyraThe voice didn't belong to Nadia. It didn't belong to me. It came from the metallic object resting directly behind my hip.Nadia froze. She pulled her mouth away from me and yanked her fingers out of my body. She stood up quickly, wiping her wet mouth with the back of her hand, her chest heavi







