Ronan
I’d spent enough years here to know he palace’s rhythm; the rhythm of boots on patrol, the faint scrape of servants moving through lower halls, the way torches sputtered when drafts slipped between the stones.
Tonight, I wasn’t listening to the rhythm to do something I never thought I was capable of.
My boots barely touched the flagstones, weight pitched forward as if I were stalking an enemy camp. My pulse kept time in my throat, steady and even.
This wasn’t a mission or duty. It was the highest betrayal.
The word caught under my ribs. I forced my face into its cold neutral state, the soldier’s mask I’d worn for years. Calm on the surface, a storm underneath.
My wolf prowled inside, restless and uneasy.
This was Damon’s palace. Damon’s halls. And here I was, threading th
