AlyssaRalph walked a lot like the military men back in the North.I felt like a shadow as I fluttered behind him in the hallways, hoping to strike up a conversation. It had been a horrid night, and I would have delighted in a little small talk.But Ralph didn’t seem the type of man to enjoy talk at all. He was perhaps the largest wolf I’d ever met, stoic and brawny. Built like a fighter with eyes made for war. And quiet. Quiet as a still day.I quite…liked that.As he strode ahead of me, I fluttered around him, hoping to get his attention. “Perhaps it was a bad idea to leave them in my room,” I said, smirking wryly. “I will have to make sure the servants clean my sheets in the morning.”Ralph shot me a look. One singed with discomfort. It was clear he wasn’t used to seeing Xavier in love anymore than I was.“It is nice, though. Isn’t it?” I asked him, blush swelling to my cheeks. “To think that men like him still exist. Men that only want one woman and no one else.”Ralph looked at m

Valerie The dinner did not last long. Alyssa did not have more than a few bites of food as she spoke politely to the merchants and Caeser himself. She sounded natural—elated, even, to be in their presence. She was good at holding back her fears and feigning a proper, social princess. But I was not so good at charades. The entirety of dinner, I stood behind her chair, waiting for my breathing to slow. Gripping the wood of the chair so my hands did not tremble. The moment we returned to Alyssa’s room, she shut the door at her back and looked at me. “Valerie, what was that? What happened?” I felt my throat closing up. My chest tightened around my ribs. “W-what? What do you mean?” “What do you mean what do I mean?” Alyssa balked. “You were so pale and I could feel you shaking behind me. What’s going on with you?” I hesitated. I wanted to tell Alyssa, but—was that the right thing to do? We were hardly friends, and my secrets were not precious things to her. If Caeser really was the m

Xavier Valerie was right. I had chosen her from the beginning, not only because of her birthmark, but because she was from Westshield. I knew of my father’s sins in Westshield. How he destroyed everything the night of the raid. I remembered that night clearly, because it was the night mother died. But I did not know that her family was caught in the crossfire. That it was Caeser’s plight on Westshield that had turned her into a slave. That had put her in that damned shop. That had stolen away her innocence. I knew only that she was a Westshield survivor. I knew how rare survivors were. And when I saw Valerie in the shop, I just…couldn’t leave her behind. She represented everything that was wrong with this world, and all my father had done. And freeing her from that place felt like…redemption. It was not as though I left my father’s sins overlooked. When the time came that I took my throne as Alpha, I used my power to look into what happened the night of the raid. To understand wh

Alyssa Mistress Amelia led me to the back of the mansion, where a lovely table had been set out in the center of a vibrant garden. I was not the only guest, it appeared; several other young ladies dressed in lush gowns and laughed easily with one another, the gentle clatter of teacups in the air. “Girls,” said Mistress Amelia, waving a hand to me. “Princess Alyssa has arrived. Princess, this is Claudia, Janice, Tulip and Milly.” The girls waved giddily at me. They all looked so cheerful, so easy to get along with. They waved me to their table and nearly dragged me into a seat, desperate to learn about me. To know what it was to be a princess. I did not have much experience with girls my age. My father never cared to allow the exploration of friendship among the nobles. I was only allowed to socialize with the children of his business partners, who were usually far older than me and far less interested in the things I enjoyed. But I found it easy to talk to these girl, and I fell

XavierI should have been working. I had papers to sign, orders to make. But I could not take my mind off of Valerie. Off of the tears in her eyes. The pain on her face.The way she wouldn’t look at me. Couldn’t look at me.Certainly, a resentment was growing in her heart. A hatred for me. For the blood of my father, pumping through my veins. I could not blame her.I had kept it from her. The real reason why I’d chosen her in that dingy shop.But truly, I did not know if my father was the one responsible for their deaths. And I did not know how I found manage to unearth the reality of what happened without any official documents on the matter. Valerie was right; I had tried once before and failed. Why did I think I could change things now?I had been so deeply lost in my thoughts, I was jolted when my study door swung open.Alyssa appeared first, Ralph and Amelia at her heels.I rose, surprised by the intrusion. More surprised even, by the sight of Amelia. “Amelia, what are you doing