KELLY THOMPSON'S POV

The sharp rap on the oak door of my study pulled me from the parchment sprawled before me, a list of herbs and incantations I was revising for our healers. The royal guard on the other side bowed deeply, his face etched with urgency. "My Queen, an unexpected visitor demands your audience in the waiting room."

Surprise lanced through me, a cold sliver of unease. Visitors were seldom unexpected in this stronghold of stone and silver-the heart of the South pack's might. With a ...