They started calling me Heretic Queen before dawn.

The whispers slithered through the halls of Iron Howl like snakes. Not out of disrespect but because of fear.

Fear of what I had become.

Of what I was becoming.

I stood on the obsidian balcony Kael built for me above the southern wing. The wind smelled like ash, snow, and submission.

Below, the wolves trained harder. Fought dirtier.

Because I commanded it.

The Flame Court was no longer governed by laws written in stone but by heat, ...