Ethan's POV
We reach the Lycan King's pack behind the main column.
I've never seen the royal seat up close. Nobody from Blackwood has, not in my lifetime. Stone halls. Clean roads. Guards at every gate who don't have to look twice at you to make you feel looked at. It makes my whole territory feel like a hunting lodge somebody left out in the woods.
But I'm not looking at the halls.
I'm looking at the two groups ahead of us.
For the first time, I see all of it laid out plain. In one place. In daylight.
Sora, with the boy on her hip. Bobby half a step behind her, carrying something, staying close without being told to. And not far off, Riven and his people, moving together like one body, the space around them clearing on its own.
Then there's us. Me. Lyra, pale and silent, walking wi
