At dawn, Iron Howl screamed.

The fortress itself, stone, iron, bone wailed like a wolf split in half. The Huntress’s chains had pierced deep, wrapping our walls in glowing roots of white fire.

Blood seeped from the cracks in the stone, as though the fortress bled for her. Wolves fell back, whimpering, some clutching their ears, others tearing their claws into their own skin as the sound invaded them.

Kael staggered beside me, hand on his scar. His teeth clenched so hard blood leaked down ...