Aariana POV
The council chamber had too many windows.
Aariana noticed that before she noticed anything else.
Six tall windows lined the eastern wall, each covered with dark curtains that did little to hide the gray morning beyond them. Too many exits. Too many places for someone to watch from.
She stood at the center of the chamber with her hands clasped behind her back.
Lucas sat across the long table.
For five years, she had imagined seeing him again.
She had imagined anger.
She had imagined hatred.
She had imagined herself standing before him without feeling anything at all.
She had been wrong.
Her wolf was awake beneath her skin, restless and alert.
Lucas looked older than the man she remembered.
Harder, too.
The council had changed him.
Or perhaps ruling had.
His eyes
