*Ryatt*I don’t normally stay in the dining hall this long after breakfast. It’s nearly 9:00, and the sky outside hasn’t even begun to lighten. Rain bursts over the balcony in sheets of silver as I pour myself a third cup of coffee and rest my legs on the opposite chair, crossing my ankles. The obsidian walls in the cavernous room glimmer in the light radiating from the hearth. It’s quiet, peaceful. The two-story high wooden doors burst open, slamming into the walls on either side. The impact echoes through the room, followed by brisk footsteps. “What in the actual fuck, Ryatt?!” Ella comes to a stop a few feet away from the table with a sneer. Her face is bright red and peppered with soft bruises and welts. Her hair is tightly braided but loose strands fall around her face, and her eyes? Goddess, there she is. Finally, that girl I fell in love with at the ball has returned to me. “Good morning,” I smile as I casually bring my coffee mug to my lips. Ella’s eyes blaze like sapphi

*Ella*I haven’t had the nerve to paint. It’s been months, honestly. Even after the war, I locked myself in my studio in Crescent Falls and just stared at all of my paintings, several of them unfinished, unable to pick up a paint brush. But something changed this week. I threw everything into training with Westfall. He helped me hone my powers to a fine edge until I could ignite a single candle with a flick of my fingertip. It sounds silly, doesn’t it? But a week ago I tried it for the first time and ignited the entire room, nearly killing us both. It’s incredible progress, and with the physical training included, I’m beginning to feel more like myself again. I brush my fingertips over my jeans, smearing paint. I don’t care. I don’t care that I have paint on my face or the cuffs of my sweatshirt, either. I’m painting, and that’s the greatest progress that’s been made at all. I had to find some way to pass the time and stop my mind from spinning over my last conversation with Ryatt.

*Maddy*I sigh as I look down at the tangled mess of wood and screws littering our bedroom floor. Isaac leans against the wall, his hair standing on end and his eyes narrowed on the instruction pamphlet for what should be the cribs for our twins.I rub my hands together, arching my brow at my mate, who looks more flustered than I’ve ever seen him before.“I want the head of whoever wrote this fucking thing,” he growls, turning it upside down. “I want them hanging from my gate!”“Just use your powers, for the love of the Goddess!”He turns vengeful eyes to me. “I’ve been to war, Maddy. I can put together a crib!”“Do it, then,” I say, planting my hands on my hips and giving him an expectant look. “Go ahead.”He glowers at me and slides down the wall into a seated position, looking like a surly teenager who just got scolded by his mother rather than the Alpha King.“I could help,” I suggest, but his glower deepens.“You’re supposed to be in bed, Maddy.”“I’ve been in bed since we got ho

*Ella*“What the hell is that?” Amanda says, her eyes on the sky above our heads as we make our way back to the castle. This is our normal routine during the day now. Westfall’s training sessions are incredibly light in the mornings now that it's been confirmed that I am, in fact, pregnant. I’m still not able to wrap my mind around it, honestly. Amanda and I spend our afternoons walking around Veiled Valley when the weather allows it. Today has been no different. Until now. Drizzling rain brushes over my cheeks as I turn my eyes to the sky. All around us on the bridge, people have stopped to stare up in awe of a swirling ripple of light illuminating the dark gray storm clouds. “Lightning?” I say to no one in particular. Thunder booms louder than I’ve ever heard it before. The ancient stone bridge rattles, startling the crowd. “We should go,” Amanda says hurriedly, clutching her stomach. “Something doesn’t feel right.”She’s right about that. A strange creeping sensation settles

*Ryatt*“You have a fucking deathwish!” Granger shouts from across the room. I’m still in my bedroom. Ella rushed Amanda out less than a minute ago, her eyes full of rage and absolute heartbreak. I heave a breath as I stare down my Beta. Despair and frustration clouds his eyes, his face shadowed but unexplainable grief. “I’m not sending my mate and child away,” he grinds out, and for the first time in my life, I see true, raw emotion flashing behind his eyes. His mate. Amanda is his mate. “What you’re feeling now is what I have lived with for weeks, Granger. You had to know this was coming.”“This was never the plan!”“The Alpha King of Crescent Falls sends his Beta breaking through the veil. That has changed everything,” I snarl. “Amanda’s pack is gone. Her parents are dead. King Kane knows someone pierced the veil, and now he’s waging an all out war, the war I was trying to avoid!” Now thousands of people are dead in less than a day, and all of their blood is on my hands. “I have