로그인The words hit me harder than any blade I had ever taken in battle.My throat closed up. I walked slowly to the edge of the wooden table and put my hand on Kaelen's broad shoulder. His skin was already turning cold.I had ridden two horses to death. I had torn across three hundred miles of frozen dirt without sleeping. I had promised Elian in the courtyard that I wouldn't let Kaelen break his word. And I had walked in five seconds too late to even tell Kaelen goodbye.Beside the table, the old man in the gray robes quickly stepped backward, dropping his wet cloth into the wooden bowl. He lowered his head and let out a loud, shaky sigh."It is a terrible tragedy," the strange doctor said, his voice trembling as he looked at the Captain. "The Southern poison was simply too deep in his blood. His heart gave out before the mint could open his lungs. We tried our best."Next to him, the nobleman in the velvet coat—Varis—covered his mouth with his hand. "No," Varis whispered, shaking his hea
[POV: Cillian]The brown warhorse beneath me stumbled hard on the frozen dirt road.White foam dripped from its mouth, and its sides heaved so violently I could feel the animal's ribs shaking against my boots. This was the second horse I had ridden into the ground since leaving the Blackwood."Keep moving!" I shouted over my shoulder.Behind me, fifty of my best riders pushed their mounts forward. Nobody complained. Nobody asked for water or a five-minute rest. In the middle of the tight formation, two of my largest soldiers rode right beside Gaius, holding onto the old healer's leather belt so he wouldn't fall off his saddle from exhaustion.We had not stopped once. When the first set of horses started giving out at dawn, we rode straight into the Northern border outpost, jumped off their backs before they even stopped moving, and took every fresh warhorse in the stables.I did not care about the cold wind hitting my face. I did not care that my hands were numb inside my leather glov
"The mercenary lied," I told them quietly. "Kaelen is still breathing. The poison paralyzed him, and he is dying slowly in the meeting hall. The castle healers do not know how to fix it.""Then we just wait," Kelan said, a small smile returning to his face. "If the healers cannot fix it, he will be dead by tonight anyway.""No," I said sharply. "A man like Kaelen survived twenty years in the mud and the cold. His body is too strong. What if he fights the poison off? Worse, what if the Northern guards already sent a message to King Cillian to bring his own healers? We cannot sit here and hope the poison finishes the job. We need to make sure he dies today."Torin frowned. "The Northern guards have the castle locked down, Varis. We cannot walk in there with a dagger.""We are not going to walk in with a dagger," I said. "We are going to walk in with a savior."I looked down the narrow street toward the lower market district."Think about our position," I told them, leaning forward on my
[POV: Lord Varis]Lord Torin and Lord Kelan were still shouting at each other over the spilled wine on the floor. The other nine lords stood in the shadows, looking like beaten dogs."Be quiet," I said. I did not yell. My voice was flat and calm.Torin stopped shouting and looked at me. "He took all our gold, Varis! We have nothing left!""We have our heads still attached to our necks," I replied, walking back to the wooden table. I pulled out my chair and sat down. "Sit down. All of you. Stop acting like frightened children and start thinking."Kelan wiped the small drop of blood from his throat with his sleeve and slowly sat down on a wooden crate. The other lords followed, pulling up chairs around the table."Why are we not packing the horses?" Kelan asked quietly. "If the Northern guards send a bird to King Cillian, he will march an army down here.""And who is he going to march against?" I asked, resting my hands neatly on the wood. "Did you sign your name on that mercenary's bla
Gaius grabbed the other two, groaning slightly under the weight. We practically ran out of the infirmary and up the wide stone steps leading to the main courtyard.The freezing night air hit my face the second we stepped outside.The courtyard was loud and full of movement. Fifty elite Northern soldiers were already mounted on massive, restless warhorses. Torches burned brightly along the walls. Cillian stood near the front of the pack beside his giant black stallion. He was dressed in thick black leather armor, with two heavy swords strapped to his back.A stable boy ran up to me, leading my own white horse by the reins.I handed the two heavy medical bags to a mounted soldier, who quickly tied them behind Gaius's saddle while two other men helped the old healer climb up onto a sturdy brown mare.I turned to my horse. I grabbed the leather saddle horn and lifted my boot to put it in the stirrup.A large, heavy hand closed around my upper arm, stopping me.I looked back. Cillian was s
He growled loudly, his golden eyes locked on mine. The beast was fighting hard for control, blinded by the need to kill."If you lose your mind right now, you cannot help him," I told him firmly, holding his jaw tight so he couldn't look away. "I know you are angry. I know you want blood. But Kaelen does not need a mindless beast right now. He needs his brother. Give me the King."Cillian froze. My words cut right through the red haze in his head.He closed his eyes tightly. His heavy chest rose and fell as he forced air into his lungs. Slowly, the sharp claws shrank back into normal fingers. When he opened his eyes again, the unnatural gold was receding, leaving the sharp, lethal focus of the Northern Warlord behind.He looked down at me and pressed his forehead hard against mine for one single second."Mercenaries," Cillian said, his voice rough and dead serious. "They ambushed him at the border. They used a paralyzing poison from the South. The Eastern healers are useless. The veno
I didn't know if I was dying, but the world burned down around me.The castle became a dizzy, spinning blur of grey stone and flickering torchlight. I was held tight against a chest so broad and hard it felt like being pressed against a boulder. The heat coming off Cillian's body felt like pure hea
I couldn't look up, but I felt it. The whole feeling of the training yard disappeared. The air emptied out, replaced by a heavy, scary force that made every single Alpha in the yard fall to their knees without meaning to.Every Alpha except Torin. He was too busy wanting to hurt someone."Lick my b
I was not given food or water.A few hours after Cillian left me in the dark, the iron door shrieked open again. Two massive Beta guards dragged me out by the chains, my bare feet scraping against the freezing stone. The sudden influx of torchlight felt like daggers in my eyes. My head was pounding
The first thing I felt was cold. A heavy, damp chill seeped straight into my bones, sucking the life right out of me.Where was I? I tried to move, and a sharp, metallic clink echoed through the darkness. My breath caught. I pulled my arms toward my chest, stopping short as heavy iron chains bit







