INICIAR SESIÓNKaneI watched the North through the carriage window as the road climbed.At first it was only snow and dark pines. A shadow appeared, far away. It grew. A mountain. Impossibly tall and grey in the morning gloom. It blocked out the sky.Its wall came into view. A second shadow, darker. It wrapped around the mountain's base like a noose.Out of habit, I reached for my phone. My fingers closed on empty air. I glanced at Elara across from me. She gripped the fur in her lap, staring out the window, silent.I did not speak to her. The mountain and its wall kept growing. My own packhouse, my pride, shrank in comparison. I slid my hand back into my pocket.The carriage climbed on.I braced myself as the heavy iron gates creaked open, the sound echoing off the sheer stone walls of Ironmaw's keep. I forced my jaw not to clench. I was still the Alpha of Blackwater.The carriage rolled into the dark passageway beneath the arch. Guards stood on the wall above, their massive silhouettes blocking t
SeraI sat at my table by the hearth and unclasped the damp leather satchel. The rough hide was punctured by ragged tooth marks. I reached inside and drew out the first crumpled paper, smoothing it flat on the table-top with a slow press of my palm.Yvara leaned over my shoulder, eyeing the figure scrawled on the page. "Eighteen thousand pieces of silver," she muttered. "Fuck."Fenris took the next crumpled paper, carefully smoothing out its creases. His gaze narrowed as he read the cracked ink, the muscles in his clenched jaw working."Claim to Greyhollow Silver Mine, in the name of Elder Kael," he growled.I pointed at the bottom of the claim: forty parts of the hundred sold, and no name against the sale, only a mark."Do either of you know this?"Fenris said, "No."Yvara held the paper to the firelight, squinted. "I've never seen it."Then I opened the ledger. In its margins, in a rougher hand than the rest of the book, someone had worked the same sums over and over: sixty, and ele
SeraI sat silent at the high table, picking at the grey meat on my trencher, not tasting the salt and smoke. Fenris ate beside me, a hunk of bread in one fist and a chunk of venison in the other, not looking at me.The great hall was loud with the clatter of knives and the murmur of voices. The hearth blazed, the warmth barely reaching our table at the head of the room. My hands were cold."You're late," I said brightly, as Vidar sat down at the table with his men."Not our fault the bloody snow takes forever to cross," he grumbled, eyes twinkling above his beard. "I'll tell you one thing, this isn't my idea of fun."Gunnar sat beside him, quiet and watchful, his gaze flicking between me and his father. I met his eyes, smiled blandly, and looked away."Mmph," I agreed. My fingers were playing restlessly with the cup in front of me."Tell them about the wolves," one of his men called."Wolves, aye." Vidar glanced sideways at Fenris. "Bastard ones this time of year. Seem to have lost t
LyraDawn came, a chill grey light creeping into the room. I blinked, realizing I'd been staring at Edran's chair by the window for hours. I hadn't slept. I'd lain awake all night, an arm's length away from Nadia's back.I tried not to imagine him in it, before...Nadia stirred. I tensed, waiting."Your father is all I see when I look at you now," she whispered. "I can't bear it, Lyra."My breath caught. I opened my mouth, but no words came. My tongue felt tangled, heavy. My whole body felt heavy, as if I'd been buried under the floorboards."I don't want to see your face again, Lyra. I can't."A sound escaped me. "Nadia..."Silence. She didn't move.I stared at that gap on the carpet. My hand rose, fingers curling to caress her rigid back. But it fell away, returned to press against my own thigh. My gaze caught on the chair, angled to the window. The dent in the cushion.I lay there, unmoving, as the light slowly grew on the wall. The shadows retreated, exposing the rough texture of
BramI crawled backward through the snow, chin to the ground, satchel pressed close to my side. The riders' fire had burned down to embers. Their talk had faded into snores and breathing, but I knew they could wake at any moment.The bitter cold nipped at my exposed skin, but I hardly felt it. The satchel weighed heavier with each mile, but I pressed on, putting as much distance between me and the riders as possible.The wind whipped my face, carrying the scent of pine trees and frost. I breathed it in deeply, letting it fill my lungs.I used what I could to navigate through the darkness. The moon was a sliver of silver overhead, too thin to cast much light, but my eyes adjusted easily.I knew this land, knew the way the trees and rocks lay, and I moved swiftly and silently through it.The stars faded overhead and the sky turned a deep, frozen blue.I stopped to breathe and looked around. The trees loomed closer here, their branches tangled in a way that felt wrong.No bird cries, no
BramMy paws crunched through the snow. The hare's blood still tingled on my wolf's tongue. I reached the burrow where my bundle was hidden, a mound of snow at the base of a twisted root.I shifted back, my bones folding in on themselves, my muzzle drawing back into the nose and mouth of Kael's face, my four legs straightening to two.And now I was standing naked in the snow. The cold bit at my bare skin, but it couldn't make me shiver. My body ran too hot for that. I dug my bundle from its icy bed, shaking the powder from the old coat and tunic.I dressed swiftly. When the coat was on, I strapped the satchel beneath it. The weight of the papers lay against my ribs.It was the reason I walked these woods on two feet, instead of dashing through the woods as a wolf.A wolf couldn't keep them dry in this snow. There was nothing left for me back in Ironmaw, and if I tried to push through the passes, the riders would catch me sure as daybreak.I kept walking. For the first time in all that
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







