The Charm of the Rival

Two days. Two days had passed since the goblet fell and the word hysteria had been branded across my reputation. Two days I spent locked away in the Lycan Lady’s library, not for research on Lycan lore, but for intense study of court rosters, family trees, and trade alliances. I learned more about the Kingdom’s political fractures in forty-eight hours than I had in the entire miserable year I spent as a slave within its walls.

The most crucial fracture point remained ...