Chapter 2

Kane's throat bobbed.

He didn't answer.

Wolves feared the moon by nature. This was not cowardice. It was an ancient oath carved into their blood.

When the silver marks on my brow flared, every low-rank wolf in the hall was already flat on the ground, not daring to raise their heads.

The nobles were still holding out.

Kane in particular was still resisting.

His jaw was clenched, his shoulders rigid, but sweat was beading at his temples.

Sophia grabbed his sleeve.

She turned to the elders' gallery, her voice shrill and shaking. "Kane, she must be using dark magic.

"The Moon Goddess's direct line died out ages ago. How could it show up in her? She can't even shift."

Those words snapped a few of the old nobles back to their senses.

Earl Rosen was the first to step forward.

Last year, a venomous claw had torn through his chest. I'd stayed at his side for three nights, keeping him alive with herbs and silver needles. He had clung to my hand, begging me to save him.

Now he was pointing at me. "Kane, the disturbance at the altar may not be a divine sign. It could be forbidden magic."

I laughed.

It was barely audible.

But it was enough to make him swallow the rest of his words.

"Forbidden magic?" I said.

I turned toward the Moon Goddess statue behind the altar.

The statue had gathered dust for years, and even the priests had written it off. But now the dust was flaking away layer by layer, revealing a cold, luminous glow beneath.

"The goddess you've knelt to for five hundred years just opened her eyes to look at you."

I unclasped the Moon Pendant and held it in my palm.

I said coldly, "Kane, you wanted this, didn't you?"

The pendant slowly rose in the moonlight, its silver chain dangling and swaying gently.

I continued, "Come and take it."

Kane's breathing grew ragged.

He stared at the Moon Pendant with greed and fear warring in his eyes.

I finally understood. This wasn't simply about breaking the engagement. He was desperate for the pendant because it could save his life or, rather, suppress something inside him that couldn't stand the light of day.

He let out a snarl as his body surged in size.

Black fur ripped through his robes. A wolf standing ten feet tall lunged at me, claws slashing for my throat.

I didn't dodge.

The Moon Pendant hovered above my palm, its silver light cascading to the ground.

I demanded, "Kneel."

The single word rang out.

Kane's massive body slammed to the floor as if seized by invisible chains, his knees cracking against the stone.

The marble split into a web of fractures.

His claws hung mere inches from me, unable to close the gap.

The hall went deathly silent.

Every drop of color drained from Sophia's face.

She lunged toward the altar.

She was not coming at me.

She was going for the glowing pattern forming on the altar.

She was trying to destroy the altar.

That was when Evan Lane moved.

He'd been standing in the corner of the hall all along, a gray cloak hiding half his face, silent as he had been for the past three years.

But the moment Sophia stepped onto the altar's edge, a short blade was already leveled in front of her.

The edge gleamed razor-thin, resting against her wrist.

Sophia froze.

Evan didn't look at her.

He turned to me and dropped to one knee before the entire hall. "Evan of the Sworn Guardians greets the Heir of the Moon Goddess."

The moment the words "Sworn Guardian" left his lips, heads snapped up in the elders' gallery.

Kane's wolf eyes contracted to slits.

"You're from the Sworn Guardian bloodline?" Kane asked.

Evan's hand was still on the hilt of his blade.

"I am." His voice was calm. "I've waited for this day for a long time."

I looked at him.

Over the past three years, when a noble deliberately spilled wine on my dress at a banquet, Evan was the one who handed me a clean cloak.

When Kane abandoned me in the snowy forest during a hunt, Evan was the one who found me before dawn.

When Sophia sent her maids to search my room, Evan was the one who stood in the doorway and said the law forbade searching an innocent person's quarters.

All those scattered moments finally connected.

"You knew all along?" I asked.

Evan lowered his gaze. "Your mother saved my father's life. The Sworn Guardians have only ever served the Moon Goddess's bloodline."

Kane thrashed on the ground, a snarl grinding from his throat. "Evan, how dare you betray me?"

Evan looked up.

He said, "My loyalty was never to a usurper."

The word usurper cut through the hall like a blade.

Kane's snarl faltered for a heartbeat.

Then came the measured, synchronized sound of boots from beyond the hall doors.

A squad of wolves in black armor sealed the entrance, dark crimson blood-marks visible beneath their cloaks.

The elders' faces changed.

One elder breathed, "The Blood Wolf Guard of the North?"

I looked at Kane.

He didn't deny it. He just stared at the Moon Pendant in my palm, fangs bared white.

Sophia seized on it like a lifeline. "Kill her!" she shrieked. "Take the Moon Pendant!"

I closed my hand.

Silver light spilled through the gaps between my fingers.

"Since everyone's here..." I looked at the Blood Wolf Guard blocking the doors. "Nobody leaves just yet."