I couldn’t move. The words rang through me, and I was so confused.All I could hear was Candido telling me this was my birthright. I took deep breaths and tried to focus. I looked over at Bella, who was still huffing and puffing.Then, I felt Candido’s hand on my head.“Take it easy,” he said, stroking my head. “You’re probably going to be a bit tired. Come out of the shift when it’s comfortable. I know you’re still getting used to it.”I pushed my head against his hand, enjoying the way he stroked my head. My heart sang with happiness. His voice was warm and gentle, just like I remembered from before the war.But when I met his eyes, there was nothing in them. No warmth for me, no feeling. They were just looking at me, and it chilled me. There was a brief flicker of anger and maybe something else in his eyes, but I couldn’t tell what it was exactly.He stood up, and Bella growled.“This isn’t fair,” she hissed. “I only did that because Hedy ruined my engagement!”“Hedy didn’t do anyt

I was so mad; I didn’t even want to talk to him. How was I supposed to know that when he said the forest was on our side for now that it would get us from Wolf Fang to Full Moon so quickly? Besides, he was completely wrong. There was no way that anyone could run for a full day fast enough to cover the distance between the two cities.“I know you were just trying to make me stay behind,” I said as I walked into the room past him.Candido said nothing.“I’ll take the left side. This shouldn’t take long,” Cillian said, scanning the room.He was right. There wasn’t much in it. Either mom’s things had already been sold or given away too far to be recovered, or she never had much in the first place.I went to the back of the room to do my best to look for it. It had to be the Heart of the Room, so long as I found it first, I could lie and say that I didn’t find anything. When the Moon Goddess taught me how to use it, I’d get through the rest of my plan.We searched for what felt like hours

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Candido narrowed his eyes suspiciously.“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “That’s not a power that werewolves have.”“Most? No,” Cillian said. “Estella is more than just my chief medical officer. She’s the reason we rarely had to waste time fighting creatures on the fringes of Lunae.”Candido’s eyes widened, his shoulders relaxed, and the suspect left his face.“What do you mean?” Candido asked.I clenched my jaw. I wanted to call Cillian out on the lie, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t chance Candido telling him that Estella was dead. It was obvious that he thought Estella was still alive. Sure, he wasn’t being as nice to me as he had been before. I still needed him.He was the only person around that I could use to make Candido jealous.“His Majesty asked me to help you figure out your powers the way I helped Estella figure out hers… You’re a golden wolf, a solare. If the war is to end quickly and the way it needs to, you can’t afford to continue to be ig

The Hedwig and Candida in the painting shifted in their seats, and they both looked down at Cillian and Candido with such warm expressions that it made my heart hurt. Cillian reached up, and Hedwig reached out to him, pressing her hand to where he’d pressed his. “Stubborn woman,” he whispered. Then, the painting began to move aside. Hedwig withdrew her hand as it slid aside and revealed a large, dark, stone doorway. It was just like the doorway that had once been in the Wolf Fang house.The women’s eyes followed Candido and Cillian, but neither of them looked at me. When it stopped moving, the gust of cool, damp air filled the space. Cillian turned back. “Don’t enter the cave before I call. Let’s not test our luck, hm?”Candido nodded. Cillian stepped inside and vanished into the darkness. Candido took a deep breath and looked up at the image of Candida as she looked down at him. He placed a hand against the painting and Candida reached out to place her hand where his was. “It’

I growled at him. “That’s not an excuse. Apologize to me!”She scoffed. “I didn’t even hit you. He did.”I turned and looked up to see Harper looking down at me with a smug smile.  “You expect me to apologize to you?” He asked, tilting his head. “Go on. Say it.”I grit my teeth. “Apologize to me, or I’m going to tell Candido.”His smile turned cold. “Apologize to Estella first.”Then, he turned and left. The woman chuckled. “You’re really not very popular, are you?” She wrapped up the cot, and I looked around. The rest of everyone who had set up cots was taking them down. I looked down and found that the pieces of the cot I’d had were gone. I rubbed my head and got to my feet to search for Candido. Harper wasn’t going to get away with this. Candido would have to punish him. I saw Harper standing with Candido. I don’t know what they were saying, but it didn’t matter. I marched over, pushing my way through the cots, ready to tell Candido