SCARLETT
The word slipped from my lips, fragile and trembling, but it split the chamber like thunder.
The wolves froze. Their white eyes turned black in unison, then dropped low to the ground as if bowing. Even the beast latched onto Darius’s arm released him, slinking back into the tide of shadow.
Silence.
My chest heaved, my heart pounding in my ears. The mark blazed black, silver light swallowed whole. My blood hummed like it had been replaced by ink.
They were looking at me. All of them.
Kael, panting, blood streaked across his chest, fire still licking his fists. Darius, pale and shaking, clutching his wounded arm. And Lucien standing at the edge of the chasm, his smile a dark crown of triumph.
And the wolves… they bowed to me.
I rose slowly, my body trembling with a strange,
