Mary Ann’s POV
The letter remained open on the council table.
Come to me willingly, niece, or Ironclaw burns by sunrise.
Below the threat, Cassius had written the location.
The abandoned royal ruins of Nightveil.
He wanted me to meet him where his pack had fallen. Where my mother had lost her family. Where the ancient throne supposedly waited beneath the earth for my blood.
A second line had been written beneath the first.
Surrender yourself, and my army withdraws before dawn. Refuse, and every village between the eastern valley and the Volkov gates will become ash.
Modric read the message over my shoulder.
“No.”
The refusal came before I had finished reading the final word.
I looked toward him.
“You do not even know what I was going to say.”
“Yes, I do.”
His expression was h
