The White Luna: Claimed By The Cursed King

Ashveil assem

through every variable, every risk, every face I had seen in that fortress yard the night before, cataloguing and asses

of being shown to our quarters, a set of rooms in the east wing that were spa

es on the walls. Kitchen fires lit. Warriors moving to the training yard in small groups,

was, he ran

osture and a servant's assignment. She told me the King requested my presence at the morning c

clothes I had arrived

hall. The worn Ironveil travel coat. The absence of rank markings. The fact that I h

I had walked in

ranked by position, and I read the hierarchy in under ten seconds the way I had been trained to. Kael's inner circle occupied the space cl

something. A king who sat on his throne in his own hall was pe

th the kind of face that was constructed entirely for calculation. Ligh

ad to be. K

usted person in the room and treated any new variable as a structural threat to that position. H

worse than him too. Kae

rried without effort to every corner of the hall. "She will train with our warrior ranks. She will be extended the full protec

ous. No room fo

ion before committing to a reaction. A small cluster near the back exchanged glances that I filed away for later attention. And Soren, stil

cing me did no

ng to say to the co

would ask that. I suspe

the assembled wolves of Ashveil with the same expression I had worn at the a

it. "I'm here because I'm good at two things. Fighting and surviving. I intend to do both in service to this court for as long as I'm ne

sound. Not quite a laugh. The kind of noise a wolf makes when

ust slightly

n, the one that had forgotten how to be a smile

r what he was feel

here. But underneath it now, layered beneath the

pect. N

ion that he had

exactly where