POV: Alessia De Luca Volkov
The rumors started before sunrise.
By breakfast, they had become facts. By noon, they had become weapons.
I knew it the moment I stepped into the east corridor. Conversations died, eyes followed me, servants lowered their heads too quickly, guards straightened whenever I passed.
Some looked nervous, others looked afraid. A few looked something worse, respect. The kind of respect people reserved for dangerous things, the kind they gave Cassian.
The realization made my stomach tighten. Word had spread. Every person inside the fortress now knew what had happened beneath the South Wing.
The Black Wolf had chosen me. Not tolerated me, not spared me, chosen me and nobody knew what that meant which made it even more dangerous.
I rounded the corner and nearly col
