Soyera POV Helena's voice dropped to a whisper, but each word landed like a blade between my ribs."Leonard has laced the ceremonial wine barrels with The Withering. The Grand Toast barrels. They're already in position."I stared at her, my blood turning to ice. The cellar around me, the oak, the dust, the rows of vintage bottles all blurred into irrelevance. There was only her face, pale and trembling, and the impossible weight of what she'd just said."The Withering," I repeated, my own voice foreign to my ears. "You're sure?""I heard him give the final orders myself." Helena's hands gripped her skirts, knuckles white. "He's been planning this since before the alliance. The toxin is slow-acting and takes hours to show symptoms. By the time anyone realizes, he'll already have consolidated control. He'll blame the Eastern territories, or the Northern clans, or anyone he wants. And every Alpha will be dead or dying."My stomach dropped like I'd fallen from a great height. "How many
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