Selene.
Alone.
In front of me.
No wolf. No bond. No crown.
But still standing.
Chin high, dark eyes locked on mine, as if she still had some control over a story that was never written for her.
She hated me. I knew that. And that was fine.
Hate was easier to endure than pity.
What I couldn’t allow—what I would never allow—was for her to look at me with pity.
That, I could not take.
I stepped deeper into the chamber where the shadows played across the floor. The others—Maelys, Thessa, Tara, Nicole—had stayed back. Silent.
Perhaps waiting for one of us to say something that would split the tension like thunder.
But I was in no rush.
“Do you know the last thing your beloved said to me?” I began, almost gently.
“He looked me in the eyes, bloodied, with silver still smoking in his
