"Some soldiers you win with promises. Others with fear. But the rarest kind, the dangerous kind, are the ones you win against with truth.
ALARICS POV
The fire crackled low in my chambers, casting long shadows across the stone walls. I had dismissed the attendants hours ago, but sleep had not come. It rarely does these days. Not when the scent of Elias still lingered in my memory. Not when my wolf paced behind my ribs like a caged storm, snarling for what was his. I stood at the window overlooking the frozen courtyard. Snow fell slowly and lazily, blanketing the world in silence, the kind of silence that made men think peace was near when, in truth, it was the quiet before a storm. A soft knock came, and only one person in this castle bothered to knock instead of barging in.
"Enter, Niko."
