My Brother's Poisoner

my lap until the grey light turned white, then washed my face, tied my ha

Maeve had the stove going, her red hair pinned up wit

word,"

id no

it with

hole ridge heard a wolf howling befor

y spoon. "Whe

ad night." She said it too quic

is arm, his silver-grey hair tied back, freshly shaved. The room went quiet. Pa

d to the room. "Where does

" I said, "like

coat on the back of his chair with a care th

he stopped in the doorway and something crossed his face before he smil

You did not take the gues

pt els

ay, and he took the seat on Cillian's other side. "L

nd put the warrant on the ta

Alpha will hear it with the rest of you. But you should know now w

Padraig said f

years. Your wards have failed at the harbor and the north ridge. Your healing has slowed, and yo

inked against th

my report. If you prove the pack viable, the dissolution is void. If you cannot, the pack is dissolved, the territory passes to Coun

Rónán said. "A scattering w

he law is. I di

d back. "You have signed a great man

id. "You left out t

slowly, and I could feel the pack looking at me the way a wolf looks w

le because they had started to shake,

l satisfy the c

e Luna bond. The bond is the root of the pack's magic, and a pack whose root

O

s present. That has happened twi

ove the bond

. He looked at his hands,

am the one who reported it dead, and the co

ve. "What happens to an executi

sed one. An executioner bonded to the pack he is sent to judge is no longer imparti

wolf went very quiet in my skull, the way

s to prove the bond alive and ruin the executioner's

eat your porridge.

room turn a little further from me. Then the back door op

is forehead, and he held the door frame as though it were the only thing holding him up. But he wore t

said. "You hav

e you,

re that, one thing, in this kitchen, in front of my wolves." He turned his head toward me, and his amber eyes were bright and tired and steady. "My sister is the Luna of t

ot move. "Nobody sa

o it, chewed, and then said to me, quietly,

said. "I

k house until the equinox. Not the guest room. The room by the old stairs, with a lock on the inside and a lock o

for a second, then back. "Tha

an said. "

his head. "Then I

them, because nobody in this house eats who does not work." Declan put down the bread. "And y

uiet I could hear th

an for a long moment.

hout turning his head. "

ward stones need a second pair of hands tonight, and if the executioner is helping with

when he turned back he folded the napkin quickly and set it under his plate. Bu

and pushed back his chair. "No

under my brother's plate and took the napkin out, and it was not only blood in it. It was blood and

not left. He stood with his coat on his arm, looking at the

that,"