đź‘‘ Chapter Twenty: The Queen of Ice and the Conductor's Burden.Â
​Faelan, the Northern Alpha, remained kneeling for a long, tense moment, his head bowed, his yellow eyes fixed on the muddy, iron-streaked gravel at Elias's feet. The shock of the revelation that the Silver Wolves now commanded the Anchor through a pure, unblooded Vessel had momentarily paralyzed his tactical mind. His pack, disciplined and wary, held their formation, weapons and claws still drawn, but their aggression had been replaced by a chilling stillness. They were waiting for their Alpha's command, but Faelan himself was receiving a far greater, undeniable mandate from the raw power emanating from the boy.
​I kept my hand firmly on Elias's shoulder, projecting cold, absolute resolve through the Thorn. My own pain the throbbing ankle, the magical exhaustion, the fresh grief for Kael was irrelevant. I was a construct of defense, and my priority was the survival of the Conductor.
