MasukELENA'S POV, “Elena.” That voice from before came again, closer this time. “Focus on my voice, and let it consume you.” I recognised that voice this time because he kept speaking. It wasn't the first time I had heard it, and my mind still remembered it. Silverlake. He had appeared at my left witho
ELENA'S POV, “Elena, leave—” Andrew's voice cut through the noise and I ducked without thinking. Something passed over my head that I felt rather than saw, and then Andrew was there. “This place is not safe for you.” “Prince Andrew is right, come with me, Princess,” Joyce said, handling what I had
ELENA'S POV, The door swung open and the noise hit me like a wall before I could recollect my thoughts. The events unfolding in the main hall weren't the clean, controlled chaos of a fight with established rules and regulations. It was the other kind, the wild kind of chaos that I was expecting t
ANDREW'S POV, “That seems premature. We're at a delicate point in the discussion—” “Which is exactly why we need a few minutes,” I said, holding his gaze. He looked away first, and I continued. “To discuss your proposals in private and speak our mind without you listening to us. Unless there's a r
ANDREW'S POV, I noticed the guard first. Not his presence, his absence. The post in the east corridor had been manned every time I had checked it since we arrived. It was a consistent, unremarkable detail that I had catalogued the way I catalogued everything in a room like this one—automatically,
ELENA'S POV, The report came in fragments, the way bad news always did. It wasn't clean, nor with the kind of clarity that made decisions easy. Just pieces, arriving one after another through channels that were supposed to be secure and reliable, and each piece landed worse than the one before it.
“No, we're not leading those people to their death,” I said, staring at her with bewilderment because I never thought she would suggest something like that. “They are my people, even if they're not part of my pack. How could you even suggest something like that?”“Andrew, this is your father.” She s
“Not here,” he murmured, gripping my arm lightly. “Come with me.”He didn't wait for my permission. He pulled me through the entrance hall and down a side hallway that led away from the main palace. Soon, we were in a section of the building that only a few people used. The air grew cooler, and the
RYAN’S POV,The antechamber outside the council hall was unusually empty, considering it was built to host people before the meeting began. Long glass windows lined the eastern wall, letting in pale morning light that reflected off polished stone and the emblem of our nation. The table had already b
He noticed the tensed look in my eyes immediately.“Elena?” he asked softly, not to draw attention to us. His hand brushed mine as I came to stand beside him. “What's wrong? You don't look good.”I leaned closer, lowering my voice as I answered him. “That man,” I murmured, nodding subtly toward the







