LOGINI don’t look back. I don’t slow down. I just keep walking without direction…My palm still tingles from where I hit him, and my chest feels too tight for air as I push through the corridor, barefoot against cold stone.“Unbelievable,” I mutter. “Absolutely unbelievable.”I slapped the king. I turn the corner hard, and slam straight into someone.“Watch where you’re going—!”The annoyed voice is sharp and refined.I look up, only to see that the person I bumped into is none other than Lady Araya.Of course. The Goddess isn't done messing with me today.Lady Araya looks at me like I tracked mud into her sitting room. Her gaze lingers on my faded clothes peeking through Rael's coat, my weathered boots, and my rough looking hair.Her mouth curls.“So,” she says coldly. “The rogue is wandering the halls now.”“Sorry,” I step back instinctively. “I really didn’t see you.”“No,” she replies. “Rogues rarely see beyond themselves.”I snort. “Is that in your job description? Or do you just wak
Everything hurts… badly. My eyelids feel like they've been glued shut. My legs feel extra heavy, like they are sinking in wet sand.Everything is dim… muffled… wrong.A groan escapes my lips before I can stop it, and the brightness of the room stings my eyes as I force them open.Everything is blurry at first, but as my vision sharpens, I see Aisling, and beside her, Ash.Both women look very worried. I open my mouth to speak but my throat feels so itchy and dry, I can't talk.Aisling leans forward immediately, her eyes wide with relief.“Rael? Rael—hey. You’re awake.” She squeezes my hand. “Gods, you scared us.”I try to nod, but the movement sends painful splinters through my skull. Ash stands a little behind her, and passes Aisling a cup of water before moving back a little with her arms folded, as if bracing herself.She isn’t looking at me, and for some reason, I feel irritated about that.I steal quick glances at her, as Aisling feeds me the water, noticing her damp hair, and fl
Elise walks ahead of me into the ward, her little boots tapping lightly against the tiles. She stops beside Rael’s bed and points.“He’s still asleep,” she announces, matter-of-fact.I swallow. “Yeah,” I breathe. “He is.”But the pulse in my chest hasn’t faded. If anything, seeing him again makes it thrum stronger, like I’ve stepped into the same air he’s breathing in some invisible place.Aisling appears from the hallway, sharp-eyed and alert, and for a moment I wonder if she feels it too. Her gaze shifts from Elise to me, narrowing just a little.“You’re back early,” she says carefully.Elise shrugs. “Ash said she wanted to check on Uncle Rael.” Then she pats his arm through the blanket. “But he’s still sleeping. Maybe he’s bored.”Aisling snorts softly, but something flickers across her face when she looks at me again. Elise suddenly gasps as if remembering something vital. “I want snacks.”Aisling lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Lady Araya,” she calls, “please take her to the kit
Elise pats the space beside her, though she doesn’t wait for me to sit before launching right in.“Ash, do you know how to ice skate?”I blink. “Uh… yes? I mean—sort of. It’s been years since I last did.”“You’ll remember once you hit the ice,” she says matter-of-factly, like muscle memory is guaranteed by royal decree.I pull the towel from my neck and narrow my eyes slightly. “Why do you need me to teach you?”Elise sighs dramatically, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Because my mother is drowning in kingdom work now that Uncle Rael is…” Her gaze flicks briefly to the unconscious king. “…sleeping. And Lady Araya is out running errands for her. So I’m alone. And bored. And I refuse to perform the Winter Waltz on ice looking like a dying flamingo.”I choke on a laugh. “The what?”She doesn’t answer. Instead, she reaches beside her and pulls a gleaming silver laptop onto her knees. The moment she opens it, the screen lights up.I stare at it like it’s an artifact from another life
The ward is painfully quiet now that Zarina and Aisling are gone. The healers rotate in and out with hushed footsteps, and for the first time since I woke up… I’m alone.Well, not completely alone.I turn my head toward the other bed, toward the steady rise and fall of the chest belonging to the Lycan King.Rael.Even unconscious, he looks powerful. Too powerful. His masculine features are sharp, carved, almost unfairly beautiful—strong jaw, thick lashes resting against his cheeks, dark hair a little messy on the pillow, lips slightly parted like he’s on the edge of waking.My throat tightens.“What would things look like… if I wasn’t a rogue?” I whisper to the room.If I weren’t cursed by my past, if Nikola was actually normal, and not a little bloodthirsty?I glance around the empty space again just to make sure no one can hear me humiliating myself.“Would he have still tried to reject me?” I ask the empty room Silence answers.I snort bitterly and drop my eyes.“No. Of course not
My throat feels like sandpaper when I blink awake. The room is dim, the air cool, and for a second everything feels… heavy… like a disaster is waiting to happen.I swallow painfully and croak, “Zarina?”Almost instantly, soft footsteps rush toward me. Zarina appears beside the bed with Aisling just behind her, both of them wearing the same expression: relief mixed with worry.“You’re awake,” Zarina breathes, already checking my pulse, my forehead, my breathing. “How do you feel? Lightheaded? Weak? Any pain?”I shake my head slowly. “Just thirsty. And… tired.”And empty. But I don’t say that yet. “How long was I out?”“Two days, not counting the other nine days.” Zarina says as she hands me a glass of water and Aisling steps closer, her eyes sharp. “Any dizziness? Chest pressure? Strange sensations?”“I’m better,” I say quietly, feeling a bit strange about their interest in me. “But… I can’t feel my wolf.”Their eyes meet over my head, obviously a mind link communication happening sile
Dr. Zarina walks beside me as I escort her out of my wing, her boots tapping softly against the marble floor.She still smells faintly of antiseptic herbs and wolfsbane tinctures. Normally, her scent calms me. Tonight, with her scent still lingering in my room, nothing can.“She’s stable for now,”
“Oww.”The sound scrapes out of me before I can swallow it.Everything hurts. It's neither the sharp kind of hurt nor the shallow surface-level pain.This is the deep, dragging ache that settles in the bones, the kind you only feel when your whole body has been taken apart and put back together wro
I wake up to see that the ceiling above me is carved stone.Too white. Too clean. Too… wrong.“Where the fuck am—ohh.”I remember everything and sit up on the bed. “Elise is gone,” I mutter. “And my IV has been changed.”My shoulder feels stiff but I can sense it's healing. The faint scent of anti
Arghh….Why can't I fucking calm down?!It's like there's something in the air that is coiling tighter and tighter, waiting to snap.Even Nikola is thrumming uneasily beneath my skin, pacing in slow, restless circles.“Maybe it's because of the full moon,” she says sharply. “We can run tonight.”Th







