Chapter 2

I tear a strip of cloth and press it to Rion's arm.

"Mira. You just hurt royal blood. That's a death sentence."

Valen scoffs.

"Royal blood? Vey, come on. Lay off."

Mira lifts her chin. She loops her arm through Zelrun's, beaming.

I look straight at Zelrun. Hard.

He says, flat: "Vey. Since when do you lie?"

He almost believed me.

Mira bites her lip. Switches faces — worried, hurt.

"She's making the little ones pretend to be royal blood, Zel. If your father hears about it, our whole house is finished."

"She still hates me."

Valen's jaw locks. Zelrun's brow tightens.

"You're safe," Zelrun says. He pulls her in. Kisses her forehead.

Valen loses it.

"Eight years and you still haven't learned, Vey? What is wrong with you?"

"Mira is the real one. You're the fake. What gives you the right to come at her?"

"What gives you the right to hate her?"

The words land hard.

My hands are freezing.

Then something warm closes over them.

"You had it really bad out here, didn't you?"

The little lion girl. Looking up at me.

"Everyone in the border towns talks about you. They all know."

I force a smile down at her. I shove the rest away.

"Fifteen more minutes," I say. "Then you'll see."

Fifteen minutes. That's when the pickups come. Same time every day. The hour I'd usually be walking home, light on my feet.

"How much longer are you stalling?"

Valen's past furious now.

Mira jumps in. "Valen, wait."

"It's fine. We have room for eight whelps."

"If she wants them so bad — let her keep them."

Zelrun's mouth tightens. He doesn't like it. But he nods. Soft eyes for her.

"Whatever you want, Mira."

Valen drops it too.

I tighten my grip on Rion. My knuckles go white.

"We'll call them strays," Mira says sweetly. "Orphans. Whatever."

"But Vey's still coming home with us. She's coming to the Keep."

"She can't be tied to them anymore. Not like before."

She walks over to me. Slow.

Her eyes — full of it.

"And just so Vey doesn't forget her place — every whelp she keeps, I cut her once. Same number. Fair?"

The second she says it, every little one is at my side.

"You guys are gross."

The gryphon prince. Cael. Gold sparks down his arms.

"My dad is the King of the Gryphons. He likes Vey. A lot."

"You treat her like this? Wait till I tell him."

"She's coming home with me. She doesn't have to take this."

His twin shoves forward. Ren.

"My mom — Vey was teaching her harp! You touch Vey, I swear to God—"

The little tiger girl. Thorn. Fangs out.

"You're cowards. "

"You touch her, you're dead. Try it."

A heartbeat later — the guards are on them.

Hands clamped over mouths. Knees forced into the dirt.

Gagged. Pinned. Little ones.

But the fifteen minutes are up.

"Mistress Veyn!"

A rider tears into the clearing. Gray wolf — heavy build, scars across his jaw. Reins yanked tight. He swings off. Eyes blazing.

It's Brann. Captain of the border garrison. The man who pulled me out of the snow eight years ago.

"Stop! Who the hell are you people?"

I look past him.

Nobody behind him.

My stomach drops.

"You came alone?"

Brann keeps his voice low.

"Border riots. Big mob. Margrave Igris took the rest of the unit out to put it down. He's not back yet."

Border riots. So whoever the Gryphon King sent for his sons — they aren't getting through either.

"Drop the act."

Zelrun's voice. Something raw in it now.

"Vey. The husk's whelps. You love them that much? You'd really die for them?"