Chapter 65 66
That noon.
The storm rattled the glass panes of my chamber like the kingdom itself was breaking. Thunder boomed low and hungry, the kind that rumbled in your ribs and warned you that something was about to snap. My head still throbbed from fainting earlier, the Queen’s voice—her poisonous promise—echoing in my skull like an iron brand: Stay silent, girl, or Gregor will hang.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to howl my truth in the council hall. Instead, I sat curled in my chamber, the cryptic note from Zach tucked into my sleeve, my wolf snarling just beneath my skin.
That’s when the door burst open and Sugar flew in like a hurricane.
Her hair was plastered to her cheeks, rain dripping off her cloak, her eyes sharper than the storm outside. “Okay, don’t panic—”
“I wasn’t—”
“No, no,” she cut me off, waving her hand, “I mean I’m panicking, but you shouldn’t. Yet. Because if half of what I heard in the pantry is true, then the Queen’s about to roast you on a silver platter.”
Sugar threw herself on my bed with a dramatic sigh. “And here I thought my life was messy. Turns out, nope, it’s yours.”
Before I could reply, the window creaked.
Both of us spun—Sugar halfway pulling off her wet cloak like she was ready to strangle an intruder with it. The lightning flash revealed him. Cloak soaked, jaw clenched, eyes burning like a wolf barely restrained.
Prince Leon.
"You," Sugar hissed, "couldn't use the door like a normal spoiled royal, darling?"
He went to her side, kissed her like there were no tomorrow then Leon ignored her completely, his eyes locked on me.
So serious.
He strode across the chamber with purpose, water dripping in his wake, and pressed something cold into my hand. His insignia ring.
"Get up," he said. Low. Commanding. "Both of you. Now."
I blinked at him. "What-"
"You don't have time to argue," Leon cut me off. His voice wasn't cruel, but it was sharp. The kind of tone that told me he was already ten steps ahead and didn't have patience for my confusion. "The Queen's moving against you. Black Fang are circling the castle. If you stay one more night, you won't leave these walls alive."
Sugar sat up on the bed, narrowing her eyes. "Oh, so now you care? After watching your momma play puppet master while my girl here nearly got crucified in front of the council?"
Leon finally looked at her, his lips tightening in clear irritation. “Again, I said, I'm sorry for not telling you about my mission. Okay ?? I love you but please don't sass now, this is important."
She beamed like…whatever. She was Sugar after all but retorted, "Not when you sneak in through windows like a medieval stalker, Anyway, I love you too."
I rolled my eyes so hard, I saw my debt backward. "Sugar," I muttered, though my voice shook. "Can you not call the Crown Prince a pervert in his own castle?"
"I'm not calling him a pervert," she shot back. "I'm calling him a dramatic idiot who thinks he's in a romance novel. What's next? Is he going to throw his cape over a mud puddle for you, Marigold?"
“Ew, not for me but for you.”
She beamed again.
So easy.
“I think I'm gonna kiss him again,” Sugar smirked.
Leon ignored her again, turning back to me. “I know my mother. She won’t stop until she burns this kingdom to crown me king. And she’ll use you to do it. If you want to live—if you want even a chance at finding Gregor again—you leave with me. Now.”
My chest clenched. He said Gregor’s name, like he knew. Like he saw through the façade of Margaux I was forced to wear.
“Why?” I whispered, fingers curling around his ring. “Why help me?”
For a moment, lightning painted his face silver, thunder booming just behind it. And his eyes… they weren’t cold like his mother’s. They weren’t calculating like the council’s. They were conflicted, heavy, almost protective.
“Because you don’t deserve her cage,” he said finally.
Sugar groaned. “Well, hallelujah, it only took a kingdom-wide conspiracy and a fake sex tape for you to come back quickly—”
“Darling—”
“Yada yada, Okay I'm just missing you so bad,” Sugar pouted.
Leon smiled at her, kissed her again on the lips and rolled his eyes at me with sass, then he strode to the fireplace, pressing his hand to the stone. With a grinding noise, the back wall shifted. A hidden passage yawned open, black as a wolf’s maw.
Cliche’
“My men are waiting. We leave through here. Unless you’d rather wait for the Black Fang to drag you out by the hair.”
I hesitated only a second. Then I grabbed Sugar’s hand, shoved Zach’s note deeper into my sleeve, and whispered, “Let’s go.”
The tunnels were damp and narrow, the air stale with dust. Our footsteps echoed as Leon led us through twisting paths, Sugar muttering the entire time.
“Of course the royal handsomeness has secret passages. What’s next? A secret bat cave? Do we get matching wolf-shaped carriages?”
“Sugar,” I hissed.
“Sorry, sorry,” she whispered, not sounding sorry at all. “Just trying to lighten the mood since we’re probably going to die in a rat tunnel.”
But I didn’t answer. My chest was too tight. Every step further from the castle felt like pulling a thread from a fragile web. My wolf paced beneath my skin, restless, growling. Gregor. Gregor. Gregor.
We surfaced in the rain, the storm clawing at us like a living thing. Leon’s loyal men waited with cloaked horses, their faces grim beneath their hoods. Lightning cracked overhead, illuminating the tree line beyond the castle’s outer walls.
And then—I heard it.
The howls.
Dozens of them.
Sugar’s face paled. “Oh, fabulous. The Queen’s murder dogs are out.”
Prince Leon cursed under his breath. “Mount up. Now.”
We barely had time. We swung onto the horses, the animals stamping nervously in the mud. Leon spurred his mount forward, his men falling into formation around us.
Rain lashed my face. My hands clung tight to the reins, my heart slamming against my ribs. Behind us, the howls grew closer.
Then—shadows burst from the trees.
The Black Fang. Dozens of them. Cloaked, fanged, eyes glowing in the dark.
“Go!” Leon barked.
Our horses tore across the sodden ground, hooves pounding. The Black Fang gave chase, their growls cutting through the storm. I risked a glance back—figures lunging through the rain, weapons glinting, their shapes shifting mid-run into hulking wolves.
Sugar shouted over the storm. “This is not what I signed up for! I wanted spa days, not death by wolf gangsters!”
One of the Black Fang leapt, jaws snapping near her horse’s flank. She kicked at it with a feral scream, and Leon’s men slashed back with silver-edged blades. The wolf yelped, rolled in the mud, but two more took its place.
My wolf clawed inside me, howling to be let free. My throat burned with it. Gregor’s name roared in my head like a mantra.
Ahead, the forest opened into a narrow gorge. The path slick, the drop sheer. Lightning split the sky again, revealing the Black Fang closing in.
Leon shouted, “Hold the line!” His men wheeled their horses, forming a shield behind us. Steel clashed, snarls ripped the air, blood and rain mixed in the mud.
One of the Black Fang broke through, lunging straight at me. His claws raked across my arm—I screamed, my wolf surging, eyes burning silver—
And then Sugar, of all people, slammed her boot into his jaw.
“Back off, flea bag!” she snarled, clutching my reins to steady me. “You don’t get to eat my friend!”
The wolf staggered, only to be finished by Leon’s blade in a brutal arc. Blood sprayed the rain. He didn’t even look back at me, his voice cold: “Ride!”
So I did.
We tore into the gorge, thunder cracking, the world dissolving into storm and fear. Behind us, the sounds of battle still raged—Leon’s men buying us precious seconds.
But the Black Fang weren’t done. Their howls echoed off the cliffs, promising they’d be back. Promising they’d hunt us to the ends of the realm.
And through it all, my wolf howled only one thing.
Gregor.
I would reach him. Or I would die trying.