We brought Vale back to Crescent Hollow in chains, and the pack that had nearly turned against me three days before watched the wolf who'd tried to turn them dragged through the gate, and I understood that the whole thing had come full circle in a way that would decide what kind of ruler I actually was.
Because now I had to judge Vale. And how I judged him would tell the pack the same pack that had heard Vale's whispers, that had wondered if their Luna was becoming Damien exactly which kind of Luna I was. This was the mirror's true test. Not the whispers. This.
The cold answer was simple and everyone expected it. Vale had forged a child into a weapon, stolen winter bread, tried to poison the throne, taken a hostage at knifepoint. He'd earned death a dozen times, and unlike Roan, he'd sho
