Chapter 2

The field lay beyond the pack’s burial grounds.

There were no carved stones here, no moonflowers planted for the dead. Weeds crowded between sharp outcrops of rock. Even the narrow path had almost disappeared.

I tied the mare to a low branch and walked to a small mound in the farthest corner.

No marker. Just earth.

I would have known it anywhere.

From my saddlebag, I took a cloth bundle containing three pieces of honey candy and a few pages of music. Rain had blurred the ink long ago. The paper had dried stiff and yellow at the edges.

The candy had softened during the ride.

I laid everything beside the mound and knelt to pull the new weeds.

“Lily. Mama’s here.”

A root caught between two stones. I worked it loose with my left hand, careful not to disturb the soil.

Then I sat on the gravel and rested my damaged right hand over the grave.

“I wish I’d brought you something better.”

I smoothed a little ridge of earth with the side of my thumb.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

The wind stirred the grass. Somewhere beyond the trees, a wolf called to its pack.

I waited until the sound faded before unfolding the music.

“Do you remember this one? You used to ask for it every night.”

I spread the pages across my knees and raised my hands over imaginary keys.

My left hand found its place easily. My right hovered beside it, two fingers bent and trembling.

I began.

There was no music. Only wind through the grass and the faint click of damaged joints.

In my head, I could hear every note.

Two measures in, pain stabbed through my right hand. My fingers seized, curling against my palm.

I held my wrist until the worst of it passed.

“Mama’s hand hurts today.” I tried to smile. “We’ll stop there.”

I lowered my forehead to my knees.

The tears came quietly, falling into the loose earth between my boots.

Beneath my cloak, the message crystal began to pulse.

I wiped my face before taking it out. The unfamiliar seal from the shop glowed on its surface.

I opened the channel.

“Alex Henson.”

Rowan’s voice was as clear as if he stood beside me.

“Be at Bluewater Keep within the hour. If you’re late, I’ll have that apothecary shut down. Your employer won’t find work in any territory that answers to me.”

My hand tightened around the crystal.

“You can try.”

“Then test me.”

He sounded almost bored.

“See whether I mean it. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. You know what I can do.”

The connection went dark.

For a while, I stared at the crystal. The local Alpha owed Rowan too much to refuse him. Frank’s shop operated under a pack charter; Rowan could have it revoked.

I put it away and gathered the music, leaving the candy beside the grave.

Then I touched the soil once more.

“He’s making trouble again, Lily.”

My voice broke on her name.

“I have to go, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”

Bluewater Keep had been my home when I was Rowan’s mate.

Now he lived there with Sophia.

I rode back toward the keep and reached the iron gates before the hour was up. Before I could lead the mare through, a guard stepped into my path.

“Deliveries go around the back.”

His eyes moved over my faded cloak and settled on my boots. Mud filled the cracks where the leather had begun to split.

“I’m here to see Rowan Ashford.”

The guard gave a short laugh.

“Alpha Ashford? And what business do you have with him?”

“He told me to come.”

“Of course he did. Try that story somewhere else.”

Hooves struck the road behind me.

A black carriage stopped beside the gate, the Ashford crest gleaming on its door. The window slid open.

Rowan looked out.

Five years had sharpened his features. There were faint lines beside his mouth that I didn’t remember, but his expression was familiar.

The guard straightened immediately.

“Alpha. This woman insists you summoned her. I was just sending her away.”

“Let her in.”

Rowan didn’t look at me again.

The window closed, and the carriage passed through the gates.

I left the mare with a stablehand and followed on foot.

Piano music reached me as I entered the great hall.

The third movement of the Moonlight Sonata.

Whoever was playing couldn’t keep pace. Notes stumbled over one another, followed by a pause, then the same passage attempted again.

Sophia sat at a black grand piano in a white silk gown.

I recognized the instrument before I saw her face.

My parents had given it to me when I left their pack to become Rowan’s mate. I knew the small flaw in the carved leg, the faint discoloration above the lowest keys.

“Rowan, this piece is impossible.”

Sophia lifted her hands from the keyboard.

“Could Alex really play it with her eyes closed?”

Rowan handed his cloak to a servant. Then he noticed me standing in the doorway.

His brow furrowed.

“What happened to you? Have you been sleeping in a ditch?”

He approached, then stopped as the smell of bitter herbs and scorched resin reached him. His nose wrinkled. He drew out a handkerchief and pressed it beneath his nostrils.

“Is this supposed to punish me?” he asked. “You dress like this so I’ll feel guilty?”

I remained beside the carpet, my muddy boots on the bare stone.

“You’re giving yourself too much credit, Alpha. These are the clothes I can afford.”

Sophia turned on the piano bench.

For an instant, her gaze caught on my right hand.

Then she smiled, gathered the white silk of her skirt, and came toward me.