Modric’s POV
The council’s decision spread through Ironclaw before sunrise.
By breakfast, every guard station knew.
By midday, merchants in the central market were already whispering about the thirty-day challenge.
By evening, families in the outer settlements had begun choosing sides.
Some said I had grown weak because of the alliance.
Others said Gregor was using old succession laws to seize control of Ironclaw.
A few believed Mary Ann had turned me against the pack.
Those were the rumors I hated most.
Not because they insulted me.
Because they made her responsible for a choice I had finally made for myself.
I stood inside the training yard while commanders moved around the raised platform preparing for the first public review. The challenge would not be a single fight. Gregor
