72-In the Shadows

Michael’s POV

Useless. The whole goddamned Palace was useless!

How hard was it to find one goddamned mole when I had over five thousand wolves in my command?

I felt like I was going to go mad just thinking about it!

“Fuck’s sake,” I hissed, digging my hands into the wool linen of my pockets as I barreled toward the Royal morgue.

The night’s air had grown thick and the noise of the soldiers and groundsmen milling about did nothing to soothe the anxious thoughts in my mind.

“Mother? What are you doing here?” I rasped when I entered the cold room.

The faint buzz of the overhead fluorescent hummed slightly as if in answer to my question as I regarded the woman’s bent back.

Something heavy lodged in the back of my throat.

Nancy Gotham looked different. I could tell from her disheveled mass of black hair and the crow's feet at the edge of her sunken blue eyes that my sister’s death had taken something from her.

Something I feared could never be replaced.

“Michael! Y-Youre here! Oh, it's dr