"Power is not in the crown, nor in the wolf who wears it. Power is in who dares to defy the silence of fear."
I hated council meetings, and it is not the weight of politics I was born into that burden and wear it like a second skin. It was not even the ceaseless groveling, the false smiles, or the claws hidden beneath silken words.
My wolf, Vayne, paced in my chest, restless and snarling as the council chamber filled. The air stank of anticipation, fury, and just a hint of fear. I sat at the head of the obsidian table; the high-backed chair carved with the sigils of the Northern Kingdom and the treachery that revealed itself today.
