The great hall of Kylen’s palace felt colder than usual that morning.
Maisie had been practicing her writing at the small desk in her chambers when Elara arrived, voice hushed with urgency. “The Alpha requests your presence nearby, my lady. There are… visitors from the south. He wants you close but safe.”
Her stomach twisted. South meant Gaius. She followed Elara to the antechamber behind the throne room, a hidden space with a heavy curtain where she could listen without being seen. Kylen had arranged it this way — never forcing her into the open, but never hiding the truth from her either.
She pressed herself against the stone wall and listened.
Gaius’s envoys had arrived with a small armed escort. Their leader, a slick beta named Torren whom she vaguely remembered from pack gathering
