I lean against the threshold of my front door as I watch Auden kneel in front of Vivi, who glares at him, and Niall, who looks at this gigantic Alpha with wide and worried eyes. Niall tucks himself behind Vivi a little, hiding behind her courage. “Are you really a prince,” Vivi asks, narrowing her eyes at Auden and looking him up and down, her little blue dragon sleeping across her shoulder. “Don’t I look like a prince?” Auden asks, cocking his head to look at his daughter curiously. “No,” she replies instantly, making him laugh. “What about me doesn’t seem prince-like?” he asks, and I come into the room, shutting the door behind me. My gaze flashes to Anna in the kitchen while Vivi considers Auden for a moment longer, and I quickly shake my head at Anna, asking her not to say a word. Anna nods a quick assent.  “You are too tall,” Vivi decides. “And dirty. And you have no crown.” Auden laughs again, a warm sound that surprises me

 King Mahl stands glaring at us, his whole body tensed with the effort of not transforming into his wolf and leaping at us. I feel my breath come short in my chest, terrified despite Auden’s assurance that he will quickly get this under control.Mahl’s eyes are fixed on me and I can see the threat in the steady flame burning there, the tension in each of his muscles. He immediately suspects betrayal and he’s ready to make me pay for it, no questions asked.That’s how Mahl rules, after all: by making sure that everyone knows that he can rip those who betray him to shreds and that he’s ready to do it at the barest whiff of disloyalty. The threat feels very real to me as we stop our horses a few feet from the King and Auden swings his leg over his horse’s saddle, dropping easily to the ground. Auden turns to Mahl, taking his horse’s bridle in his hand and giving the King a short bow. “Father,”

The peaceful silence of the King’s chamber grates on Auden’s nerves as he leans against the windowsill, staring at the door. He knows it’s going to burst open at any moment and he’s not looking forward to it.Still. He wants to get this done so he can move on with his day. Auden clenches his jaw as he lets his mind wander, just a little, to the thousand things he has left to do. There’s so much to organize before this evening’s ridiculous garden party - so much he has to get exactly, precisely right -God, Auden thinks, shaking his head and not taking his eyes off the door in front of him. What the hell was I thinking, getting myself wrapped up in this? Auden scowls, because of course he knows the answer. A woman doesn’t deserve to die, orphaning her children and sparking a feud with her family, just because she had very temporary (and very valid) hesitation about the King’s choice to claim her as his next bride.After all, Auden considers, it’s not like Mahl asked Everleigh what

I’m late to the garden party, which means that by the time I get there I can barely see the garden itself, so full is it with pressing bodies. I don’t enter the gardens through the ballroom as I did last night, but instead via the more intimate and discrete Royal entrance, which opens out into a wide square clearing surrounded by benches. A delicate fountain sprays in the middle of the clearing, though I can only see the top spout of the water right now.I’ve been here before, of course – but it’s unrecognizable as the quaint and peaceful courtyard it usually is, instead now packed and humming with conversation. My eyes go immediately to Mahl, standing above the crowd across the courtyard on the painted wooden dais constructed for these sorts of events.I sigh, knowing I have to get to his side and realizing that getting there means I have to run the courtier gauntlet.As soon as I step from the entrance, eyes turn to me and a thousand different expressions cross people’s faces. Some

“Father,” Auden says, pitching his voice so that everyone can hear. “I hope that you will allow me to introduce you to two important young people,” he says, nodding to my kids. “Vivianna and Niall. Your grandchildren.”The court goes mad at these words, a flurry of gasps and whispers rippling through the crowd like wind through a field of wheat. I barely blink as I watch people turn to each other, wide-eyed and delighted at the scandal. I watch my son flinch and gasp, shocked by the sudden noise; watch Auden’s hand land comfortably on the back of Niall’s head, stroking his hair, an act that makes Niall jump again for a moment before looking steadily up at his father.Vivianna turns a little, attempting to glare around at everyone at once, clutching her little dragon close to her chest as if she would take on the entire crowd.My heart soars with love for Vivi suddenly, for my brave girl. I worry for Niall – wonder if he will thrive in this world – but Vivianna? About her I have no dou