Mag-log inLENA
“I…” I swallowed. “Nothing.”
His expression darkened. “Lena.”
“I touched the dress.”
“And?”
&
LENA“I think something is wrong with me.” The words settled heavily into the carriage.Maren’s expression softened immediately. “Lena—”“No.” I laughed once, though there was no humor in it. “Think about it. People don’t just touch dresses and melt carriage doors.”Kael’s voice was very calm. “You didn’t melt the carriage.”I turned to him. “There is literally a mark in the metal.”“A line,” he corrected.“That is not he
LENAApparently the universe hated me and had decided that if I was going to start having mysterious episodes in public, the first person to witness them would be the one man least likely to let me pretend they hadn’t happened.His hand tightened around my arm, not enough to hurt, just enough to keep me steady while his gaze dropped from my face to the carriage door and to the silver mark.My stomach dropped.It wasn’t large and if someone wasn’t looking carefully, they might have missed it entirely, just a thin, bright line etched into the dark metal beneath where my hand had been, as though heat had licked across the surface and left proof behind.
LENA“I…” I swallowed. “Nothing.”His expression darkened. “Lena.”“I touched the dress.”“And?”“And it felt…” I trailed off because I had no idea how to explain it without sounding ridiculous.Kael crouched beside me before I could stop him, his hand closing around my wrist. His touch was warm, grounding, too steady.“What did it feel like?”I stared at our hands for one brief, dang
LENAAn elder with sharp features folded his hands. “Then the answer is obvious. We close the grounds and continue the investigation until the culprit is found.”“That would be ideal,” another Alpha said. “But impossible because half the summit guests are already demanding escorts home.”“They can demand whatever they like,” the elder snapped.“And if someone else dies before dawn?” Kael asked.The room fell quiet.His voice remained calm, but there was steel in it now, the kind that made people pay attention whether they wanted to or not.
LENA“Kael—”“No.” The word came sharper this time, leaving no room for argument. “He’s dead because someone chose to kill him. That isn’t on you.”“You don’t know that.”“I do.” His certainty hit me like a wall.I frowned. “How can you possibly know that?”“Because I’ve spent half my life around men who do this sort of thing.”The answer stilled me, Kael leaned back in the chair, but there was no relaxation in him. Every line
LENABy the time we reached my room, the entire summit had transformed into something sharp-edged and watchful, it was no longer a gathering of powerful packs exchanging alliances, gossip and expensive wine. It had become a fortress with polished floors and too many secrets. Guards stood at every turn in the corridor, servants kept their eyes lowered as they hurried past, and the usual noise of the summit had dulled into nervous whispers that clung to the walls like smoke.I hated it, I hated the silence, I hated the note still burned into my memory, and I especially hated the fact that Kael still hadn’t let go of my hand. Not that I’m complaining.I mean, I was absolutely complaining. Internally, repeatedly and wit
LENAI did not sleep and no matter how hard I tried, the sleep wasn’t forthcoming so I spent the entire night staring at the ceiling and contemplating every possible reason the summit council wanted to speak with me.Maybe I had accidentally broken some ancient summit law, maybe I wasn’t supposed t
LENAThe moment Kael said, “I don’t settle,” the entire banquet seemed to forget how conversations worked.Silence spread across the table… not awkward silence, dangerous silence.The kind that happened when someone powerful said something nobody expected and for several seconds nobody spoke.Not C
LENAThe banquet was somehow louder than it had been when it started, music drifted through the hall while nobles moved from table to table with glasses of wine in hand, exchanging gossip disguised as conversation. Everywhere I looked, people were smiling, laughing, and pretending they weren’t car
LENAThe next morning, I discovered that standing up to a future queen came with consequences.Namely, people refusing to mind their own business because the moment I stepped into the dining hall, conversations stopped.Well not entirely, just enough, enough for me to notice and enough for me to kn







