~Lila~
The Bjornvik runner ate in the kitchens before he slept. I let him. A message that had ridden hard through the dark deserved bread and a cot before it deserved a queen's full attention, and the hunt had left the whole keep loose-limbed and loud in the yards.
By the time the eastern sky started to pale, the fires from the night's return had burned down to coals and the young wolves who'd made the full circuit without disgrace were still telling improved versions of their runs.
I washed in cold water, changed into clean layers, and found Magnus already in the map room with a cup of something hot and the runner's sealed strip on the table between his hands.
"You didn't open it," I said.
"It's addressed to you." He pushed the cup toward me. "Also I wanted to watch your face when you did. You're prettier when you're irritated with coastal Alphas."
"I'm always irritated with coastal Alphas."
"Exactly."
I broke the seal.
