The Half-blood crown

The Silve

vants arrived, pulling on a plain tunic and trousers, her mother's ring warm against her chest. She ne

el in the tr

rd loose in his grip. He was tall, lean, with shoulders built for war and a face that gave nothing away. His hair was dark, cut short. A

he spare heir. He had been sent to Xiayoa to observe, to report, to measure h

ped into

he envoy,

pale grey, sharp as winter.

e to the throne

N

hy

ou before the court shaped my opinion. Courts

iled. "And wha

e way she held her shoulders. "Someone who has been trained to fight but told not to. Someone who is a

era kept her face still. "That'

obser

n sword from the rack and tossed it to him

n eyebrow. "I

care if i

assing through the yard. Sera heard someone whisper her

e parried. She spun, drove forward, pressed him hard-but he gave ground smoothly, never off b

back," she said,

are

wrist with the flat of his blade-a warning. She growled. The s

ered. "There," he said quietl

r grip tighten

u've been suppressing it for years. That's why the shift hasn't come. You'

t of my

thing. Darius is not the real danger. The council wants you married, yes. B

r him. Sera stood alone in the ring

that he

-

ather. She searched for anything about half-blood shifts, about the blood moon prophecy, about

d-recent. Her mot

eading, the ink smudged in places by tears. Her mother had written i

ill sleep longer than most. She will not shift as a child. She may not shift at all until her life is in dang

rned th

d a war and united the packs for a hundred years. And there was another who burned the world. The difference, the walls said, was love. Not romantic love. Not the lo

ht. Her mother had believed in her. Had see

s dead. And belie

tside, the sun was setting. The sky bled orange and pink. Ton

e would tr

full dark. When the last light left the sky, she slipped out through a ser

. It was a ring of standing stones, each carved with the symbols

was alre

r, her back to Sera. She was tall, silver-hai

" the prie

told

. Her eyes were milky white, blind-but Sera knew

to the knife at

yet." She gestured to the trees. "You can

nto the clearing, hands raised

me," Sera said

ays. I told you-someone wants you dead. I intend to find out

re. But the answer is not a name. It is a truth." She turned to

r w

stop being a

trong. "Tonight, the moon is dark. There is no pull, no light, no guida

your eyes. And when the wolf comes, do not f

e. The sky above was black. No

earing, watching. The priestess

osed he

her own heartbeat. Then-slowly-something stirred. Not a pulse this

ed to say. I'v

t. Her fingers curl

the pai