LOGINLilaIt’s strange how the smallest sound, like the brush of quill to parchment, can fill a room with thoughts.The palace beyond our chambers is silent now, its pulse softened to the rhythm of domestic life. I can hear faint laughter drifting through the open balcony doors: the twins chasing each ot
DamonSomewhere below, laughter spills faintly through the gardens: high, bright, unguarded. The twins again, playing well-past their bedtime but I don’t have the heart to call them inside.I walk the long hall that leads from the council chamber to our private suite, the torches low, their flames s
Every tree leans toward the wind, every leaf trembles like it recognizes us.Ruby hums beneath my ribs, her joy is an endless echo. Faster, she urges. The world will wait for us to slow down later.So we run.Zane’s golden form stays just ahead, his stride long and sure, the light from the moon catc
LilaI could feel it in the stone beneath my bare feet, in the calm rhythm of the sentries’ hearts beyond the gates: the kingdom was in a time of peace.I slipped through the eastern corridor, skirts gathered in one hand, the cool floor pressing against my soles. When I reached the stables, I found
The crowd quieted instantly as she lifted her hands over the flame. The moon above flared brighter, its light spilling across her skin like liquid light.This was her kingdom. Our kingdom. I realized it had never really been mine alone.LilaThe fire crackled, alive and breathing. Its gold bled into
DamonThe air burned cold and clean beneath the full moon.From the dais, I could see the courtyard stretch endlessly below; lanterns hanging from the ramparts, petals scattered across stone, banners of every Pack rippling in the silver wind.Wolves, healers, and warriors stood shoulder to shoulder.
“Come,” Ronan murmured to me, and angled us deeper between the stacks. He set me at the end of a narrow row and then pulled a heavy armchair from a nearby table, pivoted it to face the shelf rather than the aisle, and eased me into it.The chair swallowed me whole, the leather was cool against my ov
LilaThe first thing I noticed was the smell of herbs. Sharp and bitter, willow bark and mint.It mingled with the faint sweetness of the lavender sachets stuffed into the bedframe, the contrast oddly comforting. My head felt thick, heavy, every thought slow to surface, like trying to swim through h
Her eyes lifted when I entered, and for a moment I could see the question there: Did you find a way? before she tucked it away, schooling her expression.I closed the door quietly and moved to the desk, spreading out a folded scrap of parchment I’d hidden in my jacket.“I’ve been looking at the guar
“Two confirmed. Six wounded,” Jackson said. “But the survivors say the attackers didn’t fight to kill. They fought to wound and scatter.”Scatter. Drive them away from something. My jaw tightened. “Send scouts. I want every path west of the border searched. If there’s a base camp, I want it burned t







