The southern warning changed the purpose of my training.

I was no longer preparing only for council suspicion. I was preparing to defend villages filled with wolves who had never seen me but legally depended on me.

That responsibility frightened me more

Smoke covered the southern valley.

The first village appeared beyond a line of ancient oak trees, its eastern cottages burning. Civilians ran toward the fields carrying children and bundles of clothing. Local guards attempted to hold the main road, but

The scarred commander’s body had turned to ash before he could name the true architect of the southern attack.

Kael’s name, however, had survived him.

It appeared in the testimony of three freed rogues whose compulsion marks Cora and I had broken. It a