The Argument

Two days. That was all the time left before the expedition. The Citadel hummed with the sudden, frantic energy of preparation. The King's personal guard was mobilized, supplies were being counted, and the atmosphere was thick with tension.

My discovery of Demetrius’s "soft spot", the injured Lycan pup, had twisted my insides into a complicated knot. It was impossible to hate the monster when I had seen the lonely man hiding in the straw. It made his tyranny feel less like malice ...