gn

s. I had burned

I had accepted it for one reason only. No

Three years ago, he'd died in battle, throwing himself i

the offic

en "unwell" ever since, clinging to Damon like ivy to a dead tree. Every

elieved it wa

d too sweetly and watched too closely. He laughed and said I

he was buried. As long as I stayed away, he wasn

y alone, past the music drifting from the Blackwood estate, to the lake where Blackwood'

oys. I poured half my flask ov

ned to you," I told the water. "Whatever

ood to leave, and a scent

ne smoke. It cut through my blood like a blade, and m

KING

ury had passed since anyo

odline had scattered. No one knew the upper limit of a

olf in it bowed, without exception.

ding that bloodline. Whoever stood beside the

e reason

ld Bastien played his games of balance and restraint to ke

ould end both of th

along the edge of the forest, past the chapel,

d white, covered in blood, standing in front of another woman. Three rogues i

clean stroke. T

ed why. I stood there with my pulse poundin

of her clothes was little more than torn rags, and somethi

e see

mal and sudden, an

o many years to mistake what that instinct was-

else, and it was

nd. I came up behind her a

r you

er face. I took the pa

single blow. The second was faster, but not fast enough. By the time I finished wiping my hands, I could smell her behind me

ned a

wallowed her hands. Brown curls had come loose around a pale face, and

ded. "What are you doing

ow. She hadn't as

there had been deep enough to see from the trees. Now they were th

flared. The tension in her shoulders eased half an inch, the way a wolf's does

n him, wa

rdly have killed them. And those stray

cket, then back at me. He

. No, they weren't my wolves." I nodded at the jacket. "I was invited to a wedding at the

pulled it out, an

o name. Loss. Humiliation. Something older bene

bleeding, and been afraid of nothing-and a piece of pr

know why.

erfectly even, and held the invitation ou

safe for y

small, bitter

the trees, and the twilight swall

, with two warriors behind him and his

Are you

own curls, green eyes, wearing what was left of a white dress. She came from

frowned.

want to know who sent three rogue

kill

he air, fainter now, but not gone. "Whoev

that wedding. If her scent had

let anyone else have her-