ログインNolan's hand closed around her wrist and their eyes met. Gianna went completely still. She could see the blazing anger in her eyes but under it, something else flickered there. Recognition? Confusion? She couldn't name. The moment of silence stretched between them, taut as a wire. Then footsteps echoed down the corridor. "Someone's coming," a voice called from somewhere nearby. "I heard something. Check the restricted halls." It was the temple guards. The tension shattered immediately and Nolan pulled her forward. She stumbled through the doorway and he shut the door behind them, his hand still on her wrist. Gianna's breath came fast. She looked around the room. Symbols were drawn on the floor in white chalk. Complex patterns that spiraled outward from a central circle. Potion bottles lined the edges, dark liquids inside them catching the candlelight. Strange items she didn't recognize were arranged at specific points around the circle – herbs, crystals and a silver blade.
Gianna moved through the corridor on silent feet. The temple's restricted section was darker and narrower than the main hall. Nolan was twenty paces ahead. His hood was still up. He walked quickly despite the unsteadiness she'd noticed earlier. She kept to the shadows, pressing herself against the wall whenever his head turned. This was dangerous. She knew that. If she was caught following the Lycan King through a restricted part of the temple, there would be real consequences. But IsaGianna wouldn't settle. The pull was stronger here, insistent, like her wolf was trying to tell her something she couldn't understand. So she followed. Nolan turned a corner. Gianna counted to three, then followed. The hallway split ahead, left and right. Both directions looked identical. She stopped. Nolan was gone. She listened. Footsteps echoed from somewhere but she couldn't tell which direction. The stone walls made everything bounce. Gianna chose left, following the twisted co
Chapter 0007. Gianna woke up with her hand pressed flat against her chest. Her heart had been racing, for the last few minutes before she opened her eyes. IsaGianna was awake too and alert in a way she hadn't been since the banquet. She sat up slowly and pressed her fingers to her temples. The banquet, she thought, her mind going back to the way Nolan's hands caught her, the way her wolf had lunged forward like she recognized something Gianna didn't and the way he'd looked at her afterward, like she was a problem he couldn't solve. And then he'd denied her divorce. She threw the blanket off and stood. Her body ached. Her head ached. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a question kept circling that she didn't have an answer for: Why did her wolf react to him like that? A soft knock came at the door. "Come in," Gianna said. Evelyn stepped inside, already dressed and holding a tray. "Good morning, Luna. I brought tea and –" She stopped. "Are you all right?" "Fine." Gianna took
Chapter SixThe table was silent.Every Alpha, every Beta, every carefully dressed wolf in that banquet hall was looking at their plate, their glass, the middle distance – anywhere except at Cyrus, or at Gianna, or at the head of the table where Nolan sat with his hand resting flat on the cloth and his face expressionless. Gianna watched him.She had been watching him since Cyrus finished speaking. Trying to read something – anything – in the set of his jaw, the angle of his eyes. A king who'd had a marriage arranged under his authority had just been told, in front of a full hall, that the Alpha in question wanted to alter those terms to include a second wife.She genuinely could not tell what was coming.Nolan turned his head to her, "Gianna." He said, his voice low. "What's your account of this?"Every eye in the room moved to her.Gianna set down her fork.She took exactly one breath. Then she looked at Nolan directly "I understand Cyrus's happiness," she said. "Finding your
Chapter FiveThe King didn't look at her again.He moved to the head of the table, sat, and the entire banquet resumed around him, everyone pretending the last five minutes had been completely normal.Gianna walked back to their seats with Cyrus's hand clamped around her elbow the entire way.He let go the moment they sat down.She could feel the anger coming off him in waves. She could see him struggling to keep it contained, because it had to be, because they were only forty feet from the Lycan King. Gianna picked up her fork and began eating.The food was exceptional. She wasn't going to waste it on anxiety.Across the table, someone laughed too loudly at something and then immediately calibrated down when heads turned. That was the way things were in this room. People couldn't fully enjoy themselves. Cyrus wasn't eating. He was sitting very straight, performing composure.Gianna reached for her wine.That's when she saw it.Cyrus had turned slightly to speak to the man on his
Chapter FourCyrus and Pietra said goodbye at the door for four full minutes.Gianna watched from inside the carriage through the small window, arms crossed, expression blank.Pietra had both of Cyrus's hands in hers. She was looking up at him saying something – Gianna couldn't hear it and honestly, she didn't want to – and Cyrus was looking back at her with a softness on his face that Gianna was fairly certain she had never once been on the receiving end of.This is the man I threatened to starve myself for, she thought. Past me had genuinely terrible taste.She looked away from the window.She was going to get out of this marriage. She didn't know how yet – the King's involvement complicated things significantly – but she was going to find a way. She would go back to Highmoon, back to her father and back to a life that was actually hers.The carriage dipped as Cyrus climbed in.He sat across from her and said nothing.Gianna said nothing back.It was the most peaceful four minutes







