"Move aside! Let me through!" The pack healer shouldered through the crowd—a gray-haired woman I'd seen a few times before. Always stern.
She knelt beside Finn's body, lifted his eyelids, examined his lips, and smelled his final breath. The room fell deathly quiet. Everyone held their breath, waiting.
I waited too. Waited for her to say he'd only fainted, that Finn could still be saved, that this nightmare would end.
"Silver poison." The healer rose, her voice heavy as stone. "High-grade silver poison. Lethal to werewolves. Death occurs within five minutes of ingestion. There's no antidote." She turned to Elder Drake, her tone absolute. "This was murder."
The word detonated through the crowd.
"Murder?"
"Impossible!"
"Who would do this?"
Elder Drake's face turned iron-gray. "Seal the Sacred Ground. No one leaves." He nodded to the guards. "Begin the investigation. I want answers."
The guards sprang into action. Two began questioning witnesses while several others rushed toward the room where I'd been staying.
"Wait." Someone spoke up. "Who was the last person to see Mr. Finn before his death?"
Every eye turned toward me.
My heart sank like a stone.
"Her." One of the guards—the same one who'd blocked my exit—pointed at me. "Miss Gray was the only person permitted to see Mr. Finn in the preparation room before the ceremony."
"That's right. Tradition demands the bride see the groom once before the ritual," another guard added.
"So..." Someone voiced the terrible conclusion. "She poisoned him?"
"No!" I finally found my voice, shaking my head violently. "It wasn't me! I didn't do anything. When I arrived, Finn was already—"
"Already what?" Elder Drake's gaze pinned me in place.
"Already... waiting for me." I stammered. "I didn't touch anything. I only wanted to leave..."
"Exactly!" The guard seized on this. "She tried to flee! The momentMr. Finn collapsed, her first instinct was to escape! If we hadn't stopped her, she'd be gone!"
"That's not what happened!" I cried. "I was only trying to—"
The guards who'd searched my room returned.
"Elder Drake!" One held up a small glass vial, silver residue coating the inside. "We found this in Miss Gray's quarters! Hidden at the bottom of her trunk!"
Time stopped.
I stared at the vial as the world tilted.
"That's not mine." My voice came out hoarse, nearly breaking. "I've never seen that. I don't know how it got there..."
"There's more." Another guard produced a handkerchief—my handkerchief, embroidered with my initials, L.G. "Found on her vanity."
The healer took it and examined it carefully, pausing at one corner. She lifted it to her nose. Her expression darkened.
"Traces of silver poison." She announced. "Faint, but unmistakable. This handkerchief was used to wrap the vial, or... to deliver the poison directly."
"No! No, no, no!" I shook my head as tears spilled down my cheeks. "That's impossible! I never touched those things! Someone framed me—they must have!"
