Mary Ann’s POV
“I challenge you, Mary Ann Vale Sterling Volkov, for control of Nightveil.”
Cassius’s voice echoed through the ancient hall.
The circle beneath my feet burned brighter.
Silver symbols rose around its edge, forming a barrier between me and everyone else. Modric struck the stone with his sword, but the ruins refused to open for him.
“No,” he growled.
The bond carried his fear so strongly that it almost drowned my own.
Cassius stood inside the opposite circle with the black ceremonial blade in his hand. Blood still ran from the cut across his palm, dripping onto the glowing floor.
The Nightveil wolves around us had gone silent.
Some remained kneeling.
Others stood beside Cassius’s loyal guards.
All of them understood the law he had invoked.
I did not.
“What are the
