Chapter 6

I never imagined it.

The wolf I had saved in the woodshed — he was Damien.

He looked at me, his eyes as deep and cold as a still pool.

"At the Estate today, I only saw your back. I did not realize it was you."

I was quiet. My throat went dry.

"What were you going to say to me then?"

He gave a small laugh.

"I had promised Seraphina I would punish you."

I blinked.

"I've changed my mind."

I stared at him, lost.

He stood and walked over to me, studying my face, slow and careful. "So this is what you look like."

Then he said, "Beautiful."

I thought about it. I asked, "After what you saw today — you're not angry?"

Damien met my eyes.

"I know about everything she did."

"Since then, when I look at her, nothing lifts in me anymore."

I had nothing to say to that. "Oh."

Love in this world held no steady shape. Of course it could change.

Then came his next question, and my pulse stumbled.

"And you? After so much time — have you begun to feel something for Julian Thorne?"

I reached the Thorne Estate with my palms wet.

I had not answered Damien's question. I had only fled.

He had said nothing cruel.

But there was something in him that chilled me through.

Before Julian left, he asked me to come with him to the Lantern Night festival.

I refused at first. He kept asking until I gave in.

Julian won me a string of paper lanterns.

He was laughing, easy and bright.

An old She-Wolf selling candied figurines looked at us. "A fine pair you two are. Fated."

Julian gave her five silvers extra.

Something drifted loose in me.

Before I'd been Marked, my pack friends used to tell me—

"Evelyn. I saw His Grace today. He's beautiful. And so composed. He suits you perfectly."

Later, when Damien had torn up half the court for Seraphina, I had cried twice, in private.

My friends had stopped coming with that kind of news and had only sighed, knowing.

And what Damien had said to me yesterday — I still could not read it.

I held the candied figurine, turned to walk with Julian to the next stall.

And saw Damien across the street.

He stood there. His eyes were heavy. Fixed on me and Julian without moving.

Julian left.

I did not see him off.

He had told me, "I'll write when I can. You have to answer."

I had said neither yes nor no.

He had looked at me for a long time, then only sighed and turned to go.

I returned to my wing.

A new swing stood in the middle of the courtyard.

Peach came over. "He had it built the morning he left. While you were at the shop."

I looked at it.

It was prettier than the old one. Sturdier.

He hadn't put his heart into the first.

Not long after Julian left, I heard that Damien had cast Seraphina aside.

I saw her twice on the street.

She did not look well.

I had no interest in being near her. I kept my distance both times.

The shop's takings kept climbing.

Julian wrote, as he had said. Most of his letters were about trade. That forced me to answer. Letters moved between us, back and forth, until I had a thick stack of them.

The month after Julian left, the old High Alpha died.

Damien took the throne.

I let out my breath.

The Dowager had begun summoning me to the High Pack Estate.

She was Damien's mother. I had once been meant for her son. I used to go and see her.

She had always been kind to me.

Later, she had helped arrange the Markings for my sisters.

And then Damien had done what he had done. She had, privately, apologized to me for it.

And now, somehow, we were in a room together again.

Oh — with one other wolf.

Damien.

Each time I entered the Estate, he arrived shortly after.

He said little.

But I could feel his eyes on me.

He was the High Alpha now. The Council, the Packs, the endless lists of business.

Surely he would not have time for me anymore.

To everyone's surprise, Seraphina never received a title.

She was allowed inside the High Pack Estate, but she was given no rank.

I went home to the Marchetti Pack for two days.

Syrus had been studying with Elder Corbin, and he had grown into himself. Sharper. Cleaner in his movements.

He told me he was going to enlist.

It worried me, but it was his path. I wanted him to fly high.

Not long after, the Council pressed Damien to hold a Luna selection.

He refused.

At the same time, the Dowager had someone sent to bring me into the Estate for a longer stay.

Somehow Julian heard of it.

He wrote me letters. Many of them.

[He has seen you. He regrets it, doesn't he?]

And only then did I remember what he had said on our Marking night. That sentence with no beginning and no end.

So that was what he had meant.

[Wait for me.]

[I have won war honors. When I return, he will not dare lay a hand on you.]