The hall went utterly silent. Even the fire seemed to hold its breath, flames guttering low as every eye turned toward Marcus, still standing with his palm resting on the ritual box, his expression unreadable in the flickering light.
"Explain," Grayson said, voice tight with warning. "Now, before I decide you're stalling to avoid the ritual."
Marcus lowered his hand slowly, stepping back from the box as though the truth mattered more to him, in that moment, than avoiding whatever painful compulsion waited inside it. His eyes found Lily's again, and this time there was no mockery in them, only something that looked almost like reluctant pity.
"Her father wasn't just some unclaimed carrier of dormant wolf blood," Marcus said. "He wasn't a random human who happened to carry a recessive tra
