The wolf behind her seemed to have slowed hispace.
Perhaps he feared whoever lived at this palace. Annelise ran for the gates and the mare needed no encouragement to hasten onward. The wolf loped after them, keeping his distance, and Annelise had the curious thought that he guided her toward thepalace.
The gates were closed, but at dusk, she would have expected nothing else. She had only to awaken the gatekeeper. She pounded on the wooden portal with first one fist, thenboth.
The mare’s ears flicked and her nostrilsflared.
“Who knocks?” demanded someonewithin.
“Annelise de Sayerne.” She spared a glance over her shoulder at the wolf. He drew yet closer, his proximity agitating the mare, and she pounded again on the door. “I beg you for sanctuary! A wolf pursuesme!”
The keeper’s words were spoken with a slow precision that seemed inappropriate to the circumstance. “A price must be paid for your entry to thisplace.”
Surely such details could be settled once she wasinside?
“Anything!” Annelise declared. “I will pay anything if you let mein.”
“The price of your finding sanctuary here,” continued the voice slowly, “is that you wed the lord master of thisabode.”
Wed?
Annelise stepped back from the portal, shocked at the curious request. She frowned, wondering what manner of ogre the master of this fortress must be to gain a wife in such amanner.
A snarl behind her recalled her to hersenses.
The mare tugged at the reins as if she would flee. Annelise backed into the gates, unable to tear her gaze away from the wolf, who steadily stalked closer, his head lowered and his gaze fixed uponher.
“Let me in!” she cried. “The wolf isclose!”
“You must give your pledge,” that voice intoned. “You mustpromise.”
It wasmadness.
Marriage to a stranger ordeath.
With such stakes, Annelise could only set her resolveaside.
“I promise! Open the cursed gates, I beg of you!” shecried.
The portal abruptly fell open behind Annelise and she stumbled backward, nearly losing her balance completely. The mare cantered through the gates, hastening pastAnnelise.
The wolf leaped, as though he, too, wouldenter.
Annelise screamed in terror. As his jump brought him closer, she caught a glimpse of the wolf’seyes.
One was blue and one silver-gray.
The heavy wooden doors abruptly slammed shut—leaving the wolf trappedoutside.
He howled, but he was on the otherside.
Annelise shook as she caught her breath, unable to believe her goodfortune.
They weresafe.
She had to find the mare and tend to herinjuries.
* * *
