The cold air kissed my bare arms as I leaned further over the balcony, watching her. The Queen Mother—draped in black, head low, guarded—slipped past the east gate, where no patrol dared tread without direct orders.
She thought she was being clever.
But clever didn’t survive here. Ruthless did.
I moved quickly, tossing a cloak over my gown and slipping through the side corridors I’d memorized. Shadows hugged me like old friends. My heartbeat remained calm, measured, but my wolf stirred inside me—growling, alert.
I didn’t know what I would find, but I knew betrayal when I smelled it.
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The path led to the old underground sanctum—a place once used for royal ceremonies, now sealed off after too many accidents with unstable magic. Or so the official records claimed.
The moment I stepp
