The cold outside the keep was a brutal, waking slap to the face.
I stood in the center of the training courtyard, my boots sinking into the thick, fresh layer of snow that had fallen during the night. The gray morning light was harsh, reflecting off the white ground and making my eyes ache.
Only a few hours had passed since Silas and I had cut our palms in his bedroom, sealing a blood pact that made me his theoretical Queen. Only a few hours since his lips had crashed against mine in a claim that still left my skin tingling. I was no longer wearing his oversized cotton shirt. Instead, the female servants had brought me heavy, dark leather trousers and a thick fur-lined tunic. It was warrior's gear. It felt heavy, restrictive, and entirely alien against my Omega body.
A few yards away, S
