FAZER LOGINAuren's POVI woke to warm breath against my neck. I looked around me, the room unfamiliar in the soft gray light. The bed was bigger than mine, and the sheets smelled different. Then I felt the arm around my waist.I lay still for a moment, my mind slipping back to what had happened last night. The ceremony and the mark on my throat were still faintly warm. I smiled into the pillow.Ronan stirred behind me. His arm tightened, and his face pressed against the back of my hair."Stop smiling," he mumbled.My cheeks flushed as I squeezed the pillow against my chest. "Spying on me now, silly?"He smiled while still half-asleep. His voice was rough and slow. I turned in his arms and looked at him, warmth seeping into my skin as my heart raced from simply staring at him."I can't believe we're finally married."***Ronan found me in the nursery a little while later. He stood in the doorway for a moment and simply watched me. I had one of the pups against my shoulder, one in my lap, and two
AUREN'S POVI had just stepped out of Father's chambers when the smell of stone, candles, and the faint edge of something cooking in the kitchens below hit me. I looked around and saw flowers—jasmine and white roses and something sweet I couldn't quite name filling the air. Everything smelled like celebration and joy.I looked down from the top floor and saw servants moving with hurried steps. Everyone seemed to be rushing somewhere, as though they all needed to be in a certain place at a certain time.Strange. Father never mentioned anything about a ceremony.I walked down the corridor, dragging my gown along with me. When I reached my chambers, I could already hear my four pups. They were awake in the nursery, making the small sounds they always made when they were hungry. Naya's voice was a low murmur beneath theirs, and I heard the rustle of a fresh cloth being unfolded.I immediately reached for the door, but a hand stopped me.I looked up.It was Maria, the head maid. “Good morn
Auren's POVThe palace woke before the sun had even risen. I heard loud noises from my room—the footsteps in the corridor, the low voices of servants moving through the halls.The distant sound of bells being tested echoed through the palace. Someone was hanging banners outside my window, and I could hear the fabric snapping in the wind as they pulled it into place.I lay in bed for a long time without opening my eyes.“I just need a little bit of peace and quiet,” I whispered to myself.My four pups were no longer in their nursery. Naya had taken them out for their dressing and feeding.Silver stirred.“It's today.”I opened my eyes.“What? I totally forgot.”Naya came in before I had finished sitting up, with three attendants behind her. They carried a gown across their arms like it was something sacred, and from the way they moved around it, I understood that it probably was.“Up,” Naya said.I looked at her.“Naya, where are my boys and girl?”“Oh, yes. His Majesty requested thirt
Auren's POVThe battlefield had been cleared. It took three days. Warriors dragged the bodies of the beasts to the far end of the field and burned them in pits that smoked for two more days. The rogues who had survived were chained and taken to holding cells beneath the palace. The abyss was sealed, the wounded were being treated, and the dead were being honored.On the fourth day, the kingdoms gathered in the great courtyard of Aurelia, not for a council or a war meeting, but for peace.My father stood at the center of the courtyard with Ben on one side and Beckett on the other. He leaned on his cane more heavily than he had before the battle, but his voice still carried."Today, Aurelia begins preparations for a coronation."The courtyard stirred."We will crown my daughter, Aurora, Princess of Aurelia, Moon Goddess Chosen and the one who sealed the abyss."He looked at me."She will be recognized by every territory here, and the coronation will be a celebration of peace."I stood n
Auren's POVThe celebration in Aurelia went on for three days straight. Banners hung from every tower, fires burned in the courtyards at all hours, and warriors who had spent a month sleeping in the mud were drinking wine from silver cups and dancing badly around the cookfires.I stayed mostly in the royal wing. My four babies were in the nursery beside my room. Naya had arranged everything—four cradles side by side, each one carved with a different symbol of the Moon Goddess and lined with white linen.Ben had brought in a chair from the council chamber and set it beside the cradles without asking. Beckett had found a wooden wolf carved in the shape of Silver and placed it on the windowsill where the light could catch it.Ronan had gone back to Emberfall to oversee his duties there. He came by once a week to see the pups, bringing all sorts of food for Naya with instructions to have it prepared specifically for me. Whenever I needed to sleep, he sat in the chair beside the cradles an
Auren's POVThe first thing I heard when I was partially awake was his voice. Ronan was calling my name, holding me against his chest, one arm under my shoulders, the other pressed flat against my side where the blood from his wound had soaked through both our clothes. His breath was ragged, and his hand was shaking."Auren. Open your eyes."I tried, but my body seized. The pain came from somewhere deep inside me, sharper than anything I had ever felt before. It tore through my abdomen and up into my spine, and I heard myself gasp before I even understood what was happening.Ronan went completely still."What's wrong? Something is wrong with Auren. Someone send help!"My eyes remained closed as the second wave hit before the first one had even finished. I grabbed his arm and dug my nails into the fabric of his tunic."Ronan—"Naya was already running. She dropped to her knees beside us, pushed my tunic up without asking, and pressed her palm flat against my stomach. I managed to open







