When the Wolf Breaks

CHAPTER 81 AVA’S POVI sat by the window of my private sitting room, my fingers tracing the cold glass, staring at the fog rolling over the northern battlements. I wasn't in bed anymore, despite the healers' protests. The confinement was driving me mad. Maya moved quietly through the room, adjusting a vase of fresh winter orchids on the mantelpiece, her scent anxious and protective.The oak doors were slightly open to let in the heat from the corridor hearth. That was how I heard them.Two young palace maids stopped just outside the threshold, their footsteps halting, their voices dropping into rapid clicks. They thought the crackle of the wood covered their words. They forgot my Southern ears could track a rabbit through thick brush.“They say the Luna rejected the King,” the first one whispered, the words dropping like a metal into the silence. “They say she won't let him touch her.”The second one chimed in immediately, her tone slick with fear and excitement. “They say the Moon

When The Wolf Breaks 2

CHAPTER 82DRAKEN’S POVThe maps on my table blurred as I rubbed the bridge of my nose, Fenris drawing bored lines with his claws behind my ribs. Thorne stood opposite me, his fingers turning a security report over and over, his face hardened into his usual unreadable grimness.The door slammed violently against the stone wall.A vanguard warrior burst into the room, his breath coming in ragged gasps, his armor splattered with fresh slush. “Your Majesty!” he choked out, dropping to one knee before the table. “The Luna... she bypassed the northern checkpoint. She has left the palace grounds alone on foot.”I was already moving before the warrior could finish the sentence. The chair crashed backward behind me as I vaulted over the table with a flash. Fenris let out a feral, bloodthirsty roar in my mind, his possessive territorial instincts ripping through my focus until my vision tinged with deep gold.Thorne didn't ask questions. He grabbed his heavy sword from the rack and fell into

The Gentle Sister

CHAPTER 83 AVA’S POVMadame Lira was already standing beside my bed when the gray light of morning finally forced its way through the curtains. There was no grand arrival, no bustling of apprentices or clattering of glass vials. The air in the royal bedchamber was thick with the scent of old dust and cold pine ash, the silence so absolute that the shallow rattle of my own breathing felt entirely too loud.The Seer didn't use the standard, glowing hum of healing magic. Instead, she leaned over me, her sightless, eyes trained directly on my face as her cold, fingertips pressed firmly against the center of my forehead. She slid her hand down to my wrist, tracing the erratic skip of my pulse beneath the skin.A low prayer in a language that made my wolf instinctively shrink back into the dark slipped from her lips.Reaching into the folds of her robes, Lira pulled out a small, coarse linen pouch filled with dried, pungent leaves. She set it gently on the small table beside my pillow. “T

Don’t let go

CHAPTER 84 AVA’S POVThe northern balcony in my chambers overlooked a frozen stretch of the sea, where blocks of ice collided in slow motion like clumsy, white giants trying to dance. Down on the lower docks, a group of off-duty vanguard warriors were currently engaged in a serious competition: trying to see who could throw a snowball far enough to hit a sleeping walrus on an ice floe. The walrus simply let out a loud, snort each time a ball landed short, entirely unbothered by the fearsome military.I watched them from behind the railing, but the small amusement didn't touch the cold ache behind my ribs, the herbs from Madame Lira dulled the fever. The snow fell in fat, lazy flakes, dusting the shoulders of my winter cloak. Nearby, a tray of hot berry cakes and spiced tea sat completely untouched, the steam dying out in the freezing mountain air.The palace is beautiful, I thought, leaning my forehead against the stone. So why do I feel like a prisoner trapped inside it?The rumor

Still Here

CHAPTER 85 AVA’S POV I found Maya in the gallery, adjusting the fresh linens. She nearly dropped them when she saw the sharp, determined focus back in my eyes. “Maya,” I said, my voice steady for the first time in days. “Where is the King?” Maya hesitated, her eyes darting toward the high windows. “His Majesty dismissed the high council early this morning, Luna. He... he wasn't in a state to deal with the high lords. If he isn't in his solar, he should be down in the lower forge.” I didn't wait for her to call a vanguard escort. I didn't want an announcement or a trail of boots behind me. I pulled my mantle deeper around my shoulders and took the winding stone stairs down into the lower levels of the fortress. The air grew thick with the scents of sulfur, raw coal, and burning iron as I neared the low-vaulted arches of the royal smithy. Thorne stood near the iron threshold, sorting a stack of newly polished vanguards' daggers. His head snapped up as my boots clicked against t

First Shade of Crimson

CHAPTER 86AVA’S POVThe Great Hall of the Northern Court was a sea of shifting colors, bathed in the morning light that cut through the high windows. I refused to hide in my chambers like a wounded animal. I wore a gown of dark wool, the silver collar pressed flat against my throat, and though my legs carried a strange, numbness with every step, I forced my shoulders back. I walked with the dignity expected of a Luna. But the silence that usually greeted the crown was completely gone.As I moved toward the raised dais, the whispers were no longer hidden behind cups of wine, tea or muffled by the crackle of the great stone hearths. They had grown bold, drifting across the floor like an approaching storm.“Still no sign of an heir…” a lesser lord from the eastern valleys muttered, his voice carrying over the rustle of clothes.“The Moon Mother must be displeased with a Southern wolf on the throne,” a matron whispered back, her eyes scanning my face for any trace of the lingering sickne