Chapter 3

In the days before this, Julian and I had done a fair amount together. He had been decent to me. I had half-begun to think of him as a friend.

In that moment, I realized I had been wrong.

Seraphina stumbled back several steps. She yanked open the door. Her handmaid was waiting outside.

Her voice came out fast, nothing like the smooth tone from before. "Go. Now."

"I need to see His Grace."

When the sound of her footsteps was gone, Julian let go of me.

Our eyes met, and he tried to explain. "She's the Crown's second mate. If you hurt her, His Grace will come down on you."

I pulled a smile out of nowhere.

"Is that really all it is?"

I didn't wait for his answer. I turned and left.

Damien heard of it anyway.

I don't know how Seraphina spun the story to him.

But he issued an Alpha Command: in half a moon, Julian and I would attend the Crown's Estate to celebrate Seraphina's birthday.

My handmaid Peach was sick with nerves.

"Mistress, you almost struck Second Mate Seraphina. His Grace is going to make an example of you in front of the whole court. What do we do?"

I laughed under my breath.

"Let him."

Syrus's fate still weighed on me.

I had done this to him.

The Alpha Guard trials mattered to the whole realm. Losing one wolf, one Syrus, would change nothing.

If anyone looked closely, they would only say he had fainted by his own weakness and tried to pin the blame on the Crown's chosen.

But Syrus himself didn't seem troubled. "I made my own path once. If this one's gone, I'll make another. It's fine. I'll wait three years if I have to."

"But you, Evelyn…"

I blinked. "Me?"

He nodded.

"I hear you haven't said a word to Julian in days. He came begging to me about it. Don't worry — I won't say a single thing on his behalf."

"I only want to ask you one thing. Do you want to Sever the Bond?"

I didn't answer Syrus's question.

Even if I did Sever the Bond, it wouldn't be now.

Not until my sisters were Marked.

Julian and I went on in that frozen silence for a long time.

I tore down the swing. I changed the name of my wing. But I kept the household keys firmly in my own hand.

Which was how I knew that Julian had gone to the jeweler's to have a full gold set made. A necklace, earrings, cuffs. And a carved jade pendant.

He had done it quietly, probably thinking I'd never find out.

But I had been raised as a future High Luna, trained to manage a household of three courts and six palaces. If there was the faintest trace, I would find it.

I didn't need to guess. He was buying them for Seraphina.

How he planned to get them to her, how he'd slip them past Damien's watchers — that was not my concern.

I learned quickly.

Julian had a good head for trade, and once I had my hands on the Pack ledgers, I began to study how he worked.

I even opened a small shop of my own, in secret, to try my hand at it.

The results were good.

The next time I saw Julian, I let him say two sentences to me.

He lit up. "You — you'll hear me out? You're not angry anymore? About Syrus, actually, I wanted to—"

That was his third sentence.

I stopped listening.

I walked straight past him out the door.

I wore a plain veil and a rough wool dress and went to my shop.

The shopkeepers I had hired were outsiders. They didn't know who I was. I told them my name was Nora.

Nora was my mother's line.

After sending them off, I went out to the woodshed.

I had been hiding a man out here for two days.

He was wounded. He'd stumbled onto the property by accident. He'd paid me a heavy purse of coin in exchange for a place to lie low, and so I'd given him the woodshed.

I went inside and handed him the medicine I had just bought.

"You're almost healed. Get out tonight."

I used to be a soft-spoken thing, gentle and well-bred. Since being Marked, my temper had gone to hell.

The man was striking — clean-featured, dressed in rich fabrics, every movement languid and precise. He lifted his eyes to me.

"I—" He caught himself. "Girl. Can I at least know what you look like?"

I shook my head.

"I'm ugly."

He stared at me. "Really? You've been Marked?"

I nodded. It didn't matter. "Yes."

Over the last few days, we had talked here and there.

He had said little at first, then more. The last two times I'd come, I had spotted him from the path, standing at the window, waiting.

He went quiet now, thinking.

I had no more patience for this. I turned to leave, then stopped. "One more thing. My handkerchief. Give it back."

The day I'd first found him, his shoulder had been a ruin. I had bandaged it.

The woodshed was dim. We hadn't lit a candle. He stood in the shadows and watched me for a long time. Then he spoke.

"They say your name is Nora."

"Nora. I'm sorry. I lost the handkerchief."

I frowned.

Once, when I was still meant to be the Crown's Luna, I would never have let a handkerchief of mine leave my hands. But now — I had already lost everything. "Fine. Pay me for it."

He laughed, low.

"Aren't you afraid your mate will find out?"

I didn't answer. I just held out my palm. "Coin."