CROWNED BY BLOOD
"My children are dying."
"Yes," the Cursemaker said gently, as if mourning their fate himself. His tone carried genuine sorrow, which somehow made it more terrible. "They carry splinters of an ancient curse. Not meant for them. Not bred into their bloodline through generations of sin. Planted deliberately, with surgical precision."
I froze, my breath catching in my throat. "Planted? By whom?"
His smile widened, revealing teeth made of fossilized screams, but no warmth reached his sewn eyes. "The betrayal breathes in your shadow, Queen of Wolves. Closer than your breath, nearer than your heartbeat. You will see its face when your blood waters the earth."