Page 131 of The Lure of Wolves and Whispers

“I risked it,” Wolf says, hand pulling me in close enough that his lips brush my ear. A soft shiver runs down my neck as his breath warms the sensitive skin there. “Because I couldn’t put what I have to tell you into writing.”

“A little treason never stopped you before.” I whisper the words back to him, so close my lips brush against his cheek.

He lets out a breath and doesn’t pull away. “This isn’t just treason,” he confesses, pulling back to guide me into a slow swirl in time with the other couples dancing around us. Wolf’s fingers flex at the nip of my waist as he brings me back toward him at the end of the spin, and my pulse leaps. “We found him.”

There’s only onehimany of us have been searching for.

“How?” I breathe.

“Thehowdoesn’t matter.” Wolf hesitates, then one of his fingers finds the place where the laces up my spine end, revealing the bare curve of my shoulder blade and upper spine. “But I had to come find you as soon as I knew.”

“And?”

His finger just barely dips beneath the edge of the laces, hot against my skin.

Leaning into even this small touch from him is pure instinct, and his eyes flare in surprise.

“Fifth floor,” he says, low. “Southwest corridor. Last door on the left.”

Somewhere, a clock strikes midnight.

I can feel the thunder of my blood in my ears. It’s officially tomorrow—the last day of the Assay. My birthday… and the day I very well might die in the Test of Strength.

If I’m going to kill the king, I have to do it now.

“I’ll go.” My words are steel, and exhilaration is a heady fizz in my veins.

I can do this. IknowI can do this.

“Listen to me. I can’t stay here. Fang…” He scowls at her name. “I’ve been ordered back. But after you do it, yourun.” The hazy glow of the bonfires flickers, catching on the shadows in his eyes. Concern tightens the edges. “Understand? Once you’re out of this castle, I can get you to a safe place. Talon will help you find me.” A pause. “Where are they, anyway?”

I glance over Wolf’s shoulder, but Talon is nowhere to be found. They’re probably gathering intelligence from anyone too drunk to keep their mouth shut now that Wolf is with me. Talon’s easy enough to talk to that it’s not hard to picture. “I’ll find them.”

The melody of the piano swells, and Wolf bends me back into a low dip in time with the other couples dancing, then leans just another inch closer, so the soft press of his lips is almost hidden where he brushes them against my jaw.

“Stay alive, Maeve,” he whispers.

“You too,” I whisper softly as he pulls me back up and sets me on my feet.

As the next melody begins, he bleeds into the crowd and the shadows.

Heat burns in my cheeks, up the back of my neck.

I search for any sign of Talon in the darkness, but the bodies of the crowd are hard to tell apart in the shifting, flickering light.

I twine my way along the far side of the dance floor, to where the darkest shadows shudder at the edges of the bonfires and I have to hope any noble daughters are less likely to notice me.

The shadows shift.

I flinch—right into the rough span of a broad chest. A massive hand clamps a rag down over my nose and lips. The stink of sweat and boot polish fills my lungs, along with something sharper—sour.

Darkness floods my vision, and a harsh voice growls.

“No peasant willeverbe strong enough for a crown.”

THIRTY-TWO

I wake to the sound of a latch clicking shut, and the tear of the wind at my skin.