INICIAR SESIÓNChapter 90Lilith’s POV""There's no easy way around this one," I said, my finger pressing hard against the yellowed page of the ledger.Cassian didn't ask questions. He pushed off the damp stone wall, his boots sliding silently across the grit as he dropped to one knee beside me on the cold floor. His silver eyes studied the inked diagram showing a human heart bound by five dark rings."Explain it," Cassian said, his voice dropping low."If we use the regular unbinding spell, the mental cage collapses inward," I told him, looking straight into his eyes. "It’ll strip away every memory, every thought, and every feeling I have left. I won't even know my own name.""Then what does it take?""Soul-fire," I said, my throat tightening. "You have to open your mind completely and let my core burn your wolf’s mark right into my soul. There should be no walls between us. No holding back.And if our cores aren't perfectly matched when we do it, the feedback will consume both of us."Before Cassi
"Stop there!" Kaelen’s sharp voice echoed through the steel of the watchtower bell.He raised up his gloved hand, pulling hard on his heavy black stallion toward his chest tobring it to an instant stop, some few meters down the stone road. The fifteen riders who were mounted the behind him halted immediately too, their horses pushing hard on thick snow dust into the night.Cassian didn't hesitate for a second. He took a position in front of me, his sword held downward and ready for a fight, his left hand reaching back to push me into position behind his hip. Torin drew his short blade, taking up a spot at Cassian’s shoulder with his eyes locked on the archers lined up along the top wall.Kaelen didn't order an attack. He jumped out of his saddle, tossing the horse control to a knight beside him. He unbuckled his silver sword, handed it off to his guard, and held his bare hands out at his sides as he took slow, deliberate steps toward the open gate."Let's us take a bet, Cassian!" Kae
Chapter 88Lilith's POVThe council didn't wait around for Cassian to dismiss them. The second the scout hit his knees yelling about the lower trenches, the three hundred fighters that had some moments ago wanted me executed turned as one and tried to push through the door all at once.Cassian pulled his sword out of the cracked table with a hard twist, splintering the oak. He didn't look back at the elders, and he didn't give Morgana a second glance. He grabbed my upper arm, his grip warm and unyielded, and marched me straight out the side exit into the freezing air of the dark back yard."Brandon!" Cassian called out over the chaos of shouting men and clattering shields.Brandon jogged over from the perimeter, his sword already resting naked across his forearm. "The front line is holding the riverbank, but Kaelen brought heavy cavalry across the ford. We’ve got twenty minutes before they surround the whole valley.""We aren't staying for a siege," Cassian said, his tone flat and fi
Chapter 87Lilith’s POV"That's her...she’s a fucking traitor! She put a spell on his mind!"We were welcomed by her loud scream the very moment Brandon pushed open the heavy doors of the hall in council.Three hundred or more northern fighters were crowded inside the building, shouting so loud the roof shook. At the far end, standing on the stone platform under two iron torches, Morgana faced the elder lords. She had ash smeared over her face, white bandages wrapped around her arms, and her black dress was ripped at the bottom.She held up a broken glass bottle for everyone to see."Look at this!" Morgana yelled, she faked her voice in a cracking tone with panic to carry over the notion that what ever lies she had cooked up was true. "This is dust ash from the Eastern Ridge! She used it in Lord Cassian's room while he was laying sick! She poisoned his wolf, forced him to run with her, and opened the gates for Prince Kaelen's men!"The crowd started shouting in anger. Men in the
Chapter 86Lilith’s POV"Hands off the steel, or I chop of those fingers of yours!"Brandon’s voice echoed through the dark before the boat even dare to touch the gravel at the shore. He jumped out of the boat toward shore, his boots splashing water back into the boat as he drew out his sword pointing it straight at the three figures stepping out from the opening of the rock.Cassian shoved me down onto the wooden bench behind him, his broad shoulders blocking me from view. His fingers wrapped tight around the head of the sword, the leather making the creaking sound under his grip as he stepped over the side of the boat.The three men didn't run. They wore worn out furs, leather coats that absolutely didn't match and heavy steel chains wrapped around their forearms. Their eyes had a dull glowed, yellowish as if they were sick of not being exposed to sunlight. There were Outcasts. Lycan deserters who lived as mercenaries in the border caves."Look who we have here" the biggest of th
The wooden boat slanted gently along with the current, passing through the narrow underground cave. The sound of rushing water contantly heating off the wet stone walls, it was slowed down only by the rhythmic splash of Brandon’s oar at the bow.The air down here tasted bitter in my throat, it carried a freezing cool air from the mountain passes above.I sat leanimg forward and my head lowed in the middle of the boat, my ruined silk dress soaked through and useless against the cold. My shoulders, shivering violently and my teeth clicking together before I could wrap my arms around myself. I did know something heavy and thick dropped over my shoulders; it was a heavy wool mantle, lined with dense fur, smelling of pine, iron, and his skin.Cassian crowded into the narrow space beside me. He pulled the edges of the cloak heavily to together tighter around my neck, when his hands lingered on my collarbone; it gave me a familiar sensatin. He was still half-bare beneath his unbuttoned ve







