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CHAPTER 31

FREYA Prince Adrian arrived two days later, and the moment he stepped down from his carriage into the Hamilton courtyard, I understood exactly why Kendrick’s expression had gone so grave the night he’d warned me someone was coming. There had been a formality to the way Kendrick delivered that warning, a carefulness I hadn’t fully understood until now, watching an actual prince descend from his carriage like the courtyard itself owed him respect simply for existing.He was tall, sharply dressed in colors that marked him unmistakably as royalty, his features handsome in the way that photographed well and not meant to see up close. A small entourage trailed behind him, guards and attendants moving with the practiced reverence of people accustomed to a temper that was constantly avoided, none of them quite meeting each other’s eyes, all of them watching him instead. With the wary attentiveness of people who had learned what happened when his mood shifted unexpectedly the hard way.

CHAPTER 32

FREYAThe crumpled decree bounced off Adrian’s cheek and fell hard to the courtyard stones, and for one brief moment, nobody in the entire yard seemed to breathe. Even the wind seemed to have gone still, the whole world narrowing down to the small, crumpled ball of paper resting between us on the stones.Adrian’s expression cracked, the polished composure slipping just enough to reveal a colder, more dangerous edge underneath, disbelief warring with fury across features that had clearly never once been refused anything in his entire life.“You struck me,” he said, his voice low, almost quiet, which somehow made the moment feel worse than if he’d shouted outright.“I threw paper at your face. If you’re that fragile, perhaps reconsider a life built on demanding things from people who don’t want to give them to you.”A ripple of “oh’s” echoed through the gathered crowd, quickly stifled, though I caught the flash of Damien’s grin at the edge of my vision, wide and delighted, utterly unbo

CHAPTER 33

FREYAAdrian’s threat still hung in the air when Dante moved.He crossed the courtyard fast enough that I barely registered the motion before he was already standing beside me, close enough that his shoulder nearly brushed mine, his presence radiating a cold, controlled fury that made the temperature of the entire yard seem to drop several degrees. Damien arrived a half second later from the opposite direction, positioning himself on my other side without a word, and for the first time since I’d arrived at Hamilton territory, I found myself standing between both brothers at once, neither of them making any move to step back. Whatever unspoken rivalry usually simmered between the two of them had vanished entirely, replaced by a shared, singular focus that made the courtyard feel suddenly much smaller than it had a moment ago.“You might want to reconsider that particular threat,” Dante said, his voice low and even, though the danger underneath it was unmistakable, sharper than anything

CHAPTER 34

FREYASix weeks after Adrian’s carriage disappeared down the road, I caught myself smiling at my own reflection, and it startled me enough that I actually stopped and looked twice. The weeks since his visit had passed in a steady, familiar rhythm, training in the mornings, small quiet moments with Damien in the evenings, careful, wary distance from Dante that neither of us had quite figured out how to close. Through all of it, though, a quiet transformation had kept shifting inside me, slow and steady, in ways I’d only half noticed until this particular morning.I’d been getting ready for another morning of training, pulling my hair back into the same practical braid I’d worn every day since Kendrick first handed me that knife, when I paused in front of the small mirror in my room and actually looked at myself, really looked, for the first time in longer than I could remember.The woman staring back at me barely resembled the one who’d stumbled across the Hamilton border months ago, f

Chapter 35

FREYA“You’re staring,” I said, wiping sweat from my brow with the back of my hand, unbothered by it in a way that would have mortified the old version of me. “It’s rude, in case nobody’s told you.”That seemed to snap Damien out of whatever trance he’d fallen into, a flush creeping up his neck as he cleared his throat and looked away, though not before I caught the tail end of whatever raw expression had been sitting there a moment ago, one he clearly hadn’t intended for me to see.“I wasn’t staring.”“You absolutely were staring. I watched you do it for a solid ten seconds before you remembered how to use your mouth.” I picked up the bottle of water and took a long drink, entirely unhurried, enjoying the way his composure had cracked so thoroughly for once. “It’s a little satisfying, honestly. You usually have something clever to say within the first three seconds of seeing me. Ten whole seconds of silence feels like a personal victory.”“I was admiring your form,” he said, recoveri

chapter 36

FREYADamien found me in the small garden behind the house two evenings later, a plate of stolen pastries balanced in one hand and his usual easy grin firmly back in place firmy plastered on his, as though the moment in the training yard had never happened at all. I’d half expected him to avoid me after Mara’s question had left him so visibly rattled, but if anything, he seemed determined to prove the opposite, showing up at my door with an offering and a stubborn refusal to acknowledge the awkwardness that had followed.“I brought a peace offering,” he said, settling onto the bench beside me without waiting for an invitation. “Mara made these for the staff, technically, but I’ve decided sharing is caring, and also that getting caught is a risk I’m willing to take for pastries this good.”“You stole from the kitchen, again.”“Borrowed. Permanently.” He offered the plate toward me, and I took one despite myself, unable to resist the warm, buttery smell drifting up from it. “How was the

Chapter 37

FREYAKendrick announced the training trip three days later, over breakfast, with the same brisk efficiency he used for everything else.“We’re moving training to the hot springs this week,” he said, not looking up from the reports spread across the table in front of him. “It’s tradition. Warriors need rest as much as they need drills, and the springs are sacred ground. Good for more than just muscles.”Damien perked up immediately from across the table. “Finally. I was starting to think you’d forgotten they existed.”“I don’t forget things, Damien. I prioritize them.” Kendrick’s tone stayed level, though an almost fond flicker touched the corner of his mouth. “We leave within the hour. Pack light.”I glanced up from my own plate, curiosity winning out over my usual caution about pack traditions I still didn’t fully understand yet. “What makes them sacred, exactly?”“Old history,” Kendrick said, finally looking up from his reports. “Long before my grandfather’s time, the springs marke

Chapter 38

Neither of us moved even an inch. The pool noise, the pack’s laughter, the distant clatter of towels and boots along the rocky bank, all of it faded into a distant, unimportant blur, replaced by the sound of my own heartbeat pounding loud enough to drown out everything else.Dante’s arm stayed wrapped around my waist, steady and unyielding, and I realized, somewhere in the haze of adrenaline still coursing through me, that neither of us had made any move to step back. His chest rose and fell against my palm where I’d braced myself, his breathing as unsteady as mine, and the careful distance he usually kept between us had collapsed entirely in the space of a single misstep. I could smell the cedar and steam still clinging to his skin, mixed with a warmer scent underneath, a note that had always felt distinctly like him even from across a crowded training yard.“You should probably let go of me now,” I said quietly, though I made no effort to pull away myself, my voice coming out far qu

Chapter 39

FREYAThe walk back from the springs passed in near total silence, the easy warmth of the afternoon replaced by a tense, unspoken weight that seemed to have settled over the entire pack, though I suspected only three of us actually understood the reason for it. The path that had felt easy and loose on the way there now stretched out endless beneath my feet, every step carrying me further from the moment that had nearly happened and closer to whatever awkward reckoning waited on the other side of it.Dante walked at the front of the group beside Kendrick, his posture rigid, his pace deliberately quick enough that conversation with him would have required jogging to keep up. I trailed near the back instead, my mind still caught somewhere between the pool’s edge and the moment Damien’s voice had shattered whatever had been building there, my body still humming faintly with an awareness I couldn’t quite shake no matter how hard I tried to focus on the trail ahead of me.Somewhere in the m

Chapter 40

FREYA“No,” I said quietly, the word landing between us with more weight than I expected. “He didn’t kiss me. He almost did. And that’s the part I can’t stop thinking about.”A weight eased from Damien’s shoulders, though whatever relief crossed his face was quickly buried beneath a more complicated expression, one I couldn’t quite place my hands on. He set the bread aside entirely and gestured toward the back door instead. “Come sit outside with me. I think we both need air more than we need this kitchen right now.”We settled onto the same bench where he’d found me with pastries weeks earlier, the evening settling cool and quiet around us, stars beginning to emerge overhead in scattered points of pale light. For a while neither of us spoke, the silence comfortable in a way it hadn’t been on the walk back from the springs, easier now that the question sitting between us had finally been asked and answered. I found myself watching the way the moonlight caught the edge of his profile,

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