Rhiannon's POV
"No."
The word ripped from my throat before I could stop it. I shot to my feet, the chair clattering behind me. "You can't—I won't—"
"Sit. Down." My mother's command cracked like a whip.
I remained standing, my whole body shaking. "You're sending me to him? The man who killed Kieran? You expect me to—to mate with him?"
"I expect you to do your duty to this pack for once in your worthless life." Mira's face was carved from ice, showing nothing but contempt. "Or have you forgotten that your selfishness has already cost us enough?"
The other Council members shifted uncomfortably, but none spoke up. They never did. Not when it came to me.
"My selfishness?" Heat flooded my chest. "I saved children! Twelve children who would have burned alive!"
"You defied direct orders during wartime," Councilor Thane said quietly. "You forced your brother to choose between his sister and his honor."
"I didn't force Kieran to do anything!" My voice broke. "He chose—"
"He chose to clean up your mess," my mother interrupted coldly. "As he always did. And now you'll clean up ours. The Elders have spoken. The treaty requires a blood bond between the two most powerful packs. You will mate with Caspian Blackthorn, or the war continues and thousands more die."
I felt like I was drowning. "Why me? There are others—stronger healers, better warriors—"
"Because you're expendable." The words hit like physical blows. My mother's eyes gleamed with something dark and satisfied. "Because if this treaty fails, if Blackthorn kills you or the bond doesn't hold, our pack loses nothing of value."
Silence crashed through the chamber.
"And if it succeeds," she continued, her voice soft as poison, "perhaps your life will finally mean something. Perhaps you'll save lives instead of destroying them."
My knees wanted to buckle, but I locked them straight. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction. "When?"
"You leave tomorrow at dawn. The ceremony is in three days."
Three days. I had three days before I'd be bound forever to the man who'd watched my brother die. The man whose cold eyes had haunted my nightmares for three years.
"May I be excused?" The words tasted like ash.
"One more thing." My mother stood, walking around the table until she stood directly in front of me. Up close, I could see the lines grief had carved into her face. She'd loved Kieran more than anything—more than me, certainly. "When you stand beside Blackthorn as his mate, remember what you took from this family. Remember that you're only alive because someone better chose to die in your place."
I met her eyes, refusing to look away even as tears burned behind mine. "I remember every single day."
"Good." She stepped back. "Dismissed."
I walked from that chamber on legs that felt like water, my mind spinning. Mate with Caspian Blackthorn. Live in enemy territory. Be bound to the man who'd ordered my execution.
Who'd let Kieran die.
The guards escorted me back to my small tent on the edge of the medical camp. They left me at the entrance, and I stumbled inside, finally alone.
Then the shaking started.
I collapsed onto my cot, wrapping my arms around myself as the reality crashed over me in waves. This wasn't a nightmare I could wake from. This was real. In three days, I'd be tied forever to a man who despised me as much as I despised him.
A forced bond. The most intimate magic two wolves could share, and it would chain me to my worst enemy.
Why me? The question screamed through my mind. But I knew the answer. My mother had said it plainly enough—I was expendable. If I died, no one would mourn. If the treaty failed, the pack would lose nothing important.
I was the perfect sacrifice.
Hours passed. The sun set, and darkness filled my tent. Finally, when the camp had gone quiet, I stood and slipped outside.
There was one place I needed to go. One person I needed to talk to, even though he couldn't answer.
The pack graveyard lay at the forest's edge, marked by simple stone cairns. I knew the path by heart—I'd walked it countless times over the past three years.
Kieran's grave sat beneath an old oak tree, his name carved into a smooth river stone. Someone had left fresh flowers—probably one of the pack mothers who still remembered him fondly. Everyone had loved Kieran.
I knelt beside the grave, my fingers tracing his name.
"They're sending me away, Ki," I whispered. "To him. To Caspian." My voice cracked. "I don't know if I can do this."
The wind rustled through the oak leaves—the only answer I'd ever get.
"You always said I was stronger than I thought. That I had to stand up for what was right, even when it was hard." Tears slipped down my cheeks. "But how can this be right? How can binding myself to your killer be anything but wrong?"
A branch snapped behind me.
I spun, my hand going to the small knife at my belt. A figure stepped from the shadows between the graves—tall, hooded, face hidden.
"Who's there?" My heart hammered.
The figure moved closer, and moonlight caught their face. A woman, maybe a few years older than me, with sharp features and eyes that seemed to see straight through me.
"Rhiannon Silverfang," she said quietly. "I've been looking for you."
"I don't know you."
"No. But I know you. And I know what they're asking you to do." She glanced at Kieran's grave. "I knew your brother too. He was a good man."
Grief and suspicion warred in my chest. "What do you want?"
"To give you a choice." She pulled something from her cloak—a small vial filled with dark liquid. "This is shadowroot poison. Tasteless, painless. One drop in Caspian Blackthorn's drink, and he'll die within hours. No one will know. The treaty fails, but you'll be free."
My breath caught. "You're asking me to murder him?"
"I'm offering you revenge." Her eyes glittered. "For your brother. For yourself. For everyone Blackthorn has killed in this war." She held out the vial. "The question is—are you brave enough to take it?"
I stared at the poison, my mind reeling. One drop. That's all it would take. Caspian would die, and Kieran would be avenged.
But thousands more would die when the war continued.
"Why would you help me?" I asked slowly.
The woman smiled, cold and dangerous. "Because some of us believe this treaty is a mistake. Because some of us want to see Blackthorn burn for what he's done. And because you, Rhiannon Silverfang, are perfectly positioned to make that happen."
She pressed the vial into my hand before I could refuse.
"Think about it," she whispered. "You have three days. Use them wisely."
Then she melted back into the shadows, gone as quickly as she'd appeared.
I stood alone in the graveyard, Kieran's grave at my back and a vial of poison burning in my palm.
One drop to end everything.
One drop to kill the man who'd destroyed my life.
I closed my fist around the vial, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might break through my ribs.
What was I going to do?