Chapter 3

The Blood Wolf Guard didn't attack right away.

They wore black armor with no pack crest on their shoulder plates, only a crescent moon stained red with blood.

I'd seen that symbol before, in the pack's histories.

The Blood Wolves of the North had once renounced the Moon Goddess and allied with the vampires. Three hundred years ago, Henry ordered their banishment. The two sides hadn't observed the Moon Festival together since.

And yet Kane had brought them into the throne hall.

He still tried to talk his way out. "They're my personal guard."

I looked at the one leading them.

"Since when does a personal guard carve vampire oath-marks into his face?" I asked rhetorically.

The man pushed back his hood, revealing half a face covered in dark crimson runes.

Someone in the nobles' gallery gasped.

Kane's claws gouged deep grooves into the floor.

He glared at me, his voice dripping with menace. "Lina, don't push me."

I looked down at him.

I asked, "Did I force you to kill your father? Did I force you to make a pact with the vampires?"

The moment those words fell, the Moon Goddess statue's eyes blazed.

It was not golden light.

It was the cold white glow of the moon.

The light settled over the center of the altar and slowly spread into a mirror of water.

Henry's bedchamber appeared in the mirror.

Kane stood at the bedside with a black vial in his hand. Henry lay on the bed with his eyes closed, barely breathing.

Kane said, "You shouldn't have played favorites, Father."

In the vision, Kane bent down and poured the liquid into the Henry's mouth.

"You knew full well that a woman who can't shift would ruin my reputation."

No one in the hall said a word.

Wind rushed through the cracks of the hall doors, rattling the candelabras.

Kane jerked his head up.

"It's not real." he shouted.

He lunged toward the vision, but the moonlight chains slammed him back down.

"She fabricated this." he shouted.

The vision didn't stop.

The scene shifted. Sophia, cloaked, slipped into the apothecary. She took the antidote I had prepared and replaced it with a similar-looking porcelain vial.

Sophia went deathly pale, gripping the altar's edge to keep from collapsing.

Rosen's gaze on her finally changed.

"So the former king didn't die of illness," Rosen said.

Among the old nobles, someone dropped to their knees.

They did not kneel out of guilt.

Because the Moon Goddess statue had opened its eyes and the ancient oath was now in force. Anyone who spoke for Kane would be standing against the Moon Goddess herself.

I watched them kneel one by one. There was no satisfaction in it.

These same people had been laughing at me moments ago.

Now they were begging me to deliver justice.

"Lina, we were deceived."

"Please, pass judgment on Kane and Sophia."

Sophia suddenly lunged at the vision like a woman possessed.

"Shut up! All of you, shut up!" She shouted.

She conjured a ball of wolf-fire in her palm, aiming to burn the altar runes.

Evan's blade grazed her fingertips, and the wolf-fire died. She dropped to the floor, and the silver bells shattered all across the ground.

I walked up to her and bent down to pick one up.

It had belonged to my mother.

My name was still engraved on the inside.

Sophia's lips trembled. "Lina, I just loved Kane too much."

I closed my fist around the silver bell. "What you loved was the queen's throne."

She said nothing.

At the entrance, the Blood Wolf Guard finally moved.

Their leader raised a greatsword, crimson runes crawling up the blade. Evan stepped in front of me with his short blade drawn. Although no light shone along its edge, the Blood Wolf Guard retreated half a step.

A Sworn Guardian's blade was forged to cut down oath-breakers.

I pressed my hand to the Moon Pendant.

The silver lines around the altar flared to life. Chains of moonlight surged from the ground, sealing every door and window of the hall.

I said, "Evan.

"Seal the hall."

"As you command," he replied.

I turned to the Blood Wolf Guard. "Oath-breakers stay."

In the next instant, their leader bared his teeth in a grin and crushed the blood-stone at his waist.

Crimson mist seeped through the door cracks. The ground began to tremble.

From the direction of the Forbidden Grounds, a deep bell tolled.

Evan's expression shifted. "Your Majesty, the seal on the Forbidden Grounds has been disturbed."

I looked at Kane.

He was pressed flat against the floor, but triumph finally gleamed in his wolf-gold eyes.

"Lina, did you really think the throne hall was the only game in play?" He smiled.

A second toll sounded from the Forbidden Grounds.

A hairline crack split across the Moon Pendant.