ia'

zen water. It lit the elder's robes, the polished marble, and the stunned face

explanation might be hidden beneath its sur

he stra

s voice unsteady. "This wom

ned to him

. "The bond was rec

d seemed

oor and working in the kitchens whenever Vivienne needed another pair of hands. I h

at possibl

tention shi

had changed in his eyes. Not recognition. If a

e you two

ing me, no

e of my dress. "H

eave the t

N

t anyone fro

at I kn

re you taken anywhere

ft me too weak to remember being moved from one room to another. But none of t

d. "I would

his voice to carr

e is not automatic. The bonded woman must

wept throu

forward. "She c

ued as though sh

may recognize the bond while withholding full

ear?"

test a different part of the woman w

gave my fear a shape. A trial could be stu

ad never given me an

s d

ste's voice rang through

her arm, but C

fifteen years. She cannot be a Luna.

lifted h

remony will tak

er. Beside her, Vivienne's expression went carefully blank,

r the back of the h

again. "This bitch is pl

ste." Kaelen's voice rose. "

e her over me?" Cele

over her once, c

plainly and one who turns every disappointment into

l fell

ver heard an Alpha speak ag

t me. Her hand caught my sleeve, her fingers

d there and preten

ween us before the

the marble platform. She twisted, stumbled backward i

cattered across the marble, and a dark red drin

the eyes of the entire pack, bearing t

d down at he

rned. "She

what ha

lying f

now who i

swept t

my bonded partner now. No one is

elf upright. "She i

oked

he woman the

Aldric, who stood

west rece

owed. "A

tention ret

with

did not reac

ze on my back and the murmurs that rose a