nna

t-covered flagstones as I walked

heavy cloak, snapping the thick

s and low-ranking guards averted their

t superstitious dread reserved for c

withered old Beta

hing the leather reins with white knuckles a

y court courtesies wi

oden frame, I hoisted myself up

of stale dampnes

ere torn and threadbare, leaving dry st

lt disguised as wedding transport, refusing to

k paneling and closed my eyes as

rozen mountain ruts, shaking the cabin with every v

rial court echoed clea

mpire, was a disgraced Lycan war god whose devastat

uncil conspired against him, shattering his leg meridians with let

, bloodthirsty beast who had already driven two royal brides to gruesome d

ale dispatched from the capital as

ueborn daughters, holding my mother's clan hostage in the dark-if I failed to surv

ne forests for nearly half a day, as

mperature dropped sharply, and the suffocating pres

ather curtain and pee

ress constructed entirely from jagged black stone, looking l

a sudden halt twenty p

ron-shod hooves nervously, blowing plum

a shouted from the box, his voice t

umped down from the carriage step, my

ace immediately, carrying needles of

void of heralds, welcoming parties, or lit la

gates of Shadowfang Fortress stood th

k iron glared down from the metal s

rriage whip crack

nd in a panicked frenzy and drove the carriage back down the mo

the barren stone square, the

e stone parapets, peering through the slits of their iron helms and sm

ocking stares with cold, unwaveri

my boots cracking the thin glaze of ice over the g

ce echoed down from the ramparts. "Halt! Shadowfang Fortress i

through the howling wind like a razor. "I am the Seventh Pr

sulting laughter erupt

ge, resting his iron gauntlets on th

s not accept discarded trash! Royal spies belong in shallow gra

ntent droppe

hal hunger, and my amber wolf eyes ignited, glowing

olf power, releasing an overwhelming torrent

stantly, and the atmospheric press

er on the battleme

oats as their low-ranking inner wolves whimpered in primal terror, th

p to the towering th

rnails lengthened into razor-sharp, bo

orce of my White Wolf core directly

e a siege ram, striking the reinfo

us boom echoed throug

webbed fractures rippled across the metal, and the massive thirty-foot d