A stifling stillness rumbled through the council chamber. The sigils of Kaelith's forefathers were engraved into the stone walls, which appeared to observe with icy indifference as the pack gathered under the weight of a law that was older than any of them. With their iron sconces gutted, the torches cast shadows that danced across the assembled wolves like specters of judgment.
Elaria's pulse pounded beneath her skin as she stood in the center of the circle. Everyone's eyes were on her, some scornful, some cautious, some subtly sympathetic but too shy to express it. And above them all, her father, Veylen Vayne, presided with a calm, poisonous authority, as if this moment had been written by his hand from the very beginning.
“The Trial of Blood and Shadow begins,” Veylen declared, his
