Lucian's pov
Even with the doors closed, the manor was always filled with hundreds of wolves moving through halls that belonged to my bloodline long before I was born. Guards changing shifts. Servants whispering in the corners. Some asleep.
People I was fucking meant to protect and now Silas Theoryn has made sure his death would not be the end of this.
I paced the length of the room, while the same words turned over in my mind for what felt like the hundredth time.
When the Black Rose blooms in the frost, the key will be found in the shadow of the lost
My elders had been incompetent. Men who had spent their entire lives guarding old laws and older stories had stood around the council table like frightened goats, staring at one another as if age had hollowed out everything inside them except superstition.
"They are old,"Vraal said from the back of my mind. "Old wolves forget how to hunt."
I dragged a hand down my face. That was one way to put it.
Vanya had been worse.
