The guard roared. "I'll count to three. If you haven't bowed your head to the ground by then, I won't be gentle about it."

I kept my chin raised. He counted, loud enough for every wolf on the street to hear. "One. Two. Three."

Then he brought the pommel of his blade down hard against the back of my skull. My forehead slammed into the stone pavement with a sickening crack.

Blood ran down from my hairline. Rosalind screamed, sobbing. "My Luna! Have you all lost your minds? Our mistress isn't the heir's bonded mate! You have the wrong person!"

Celeste laughed. "Oh? Now you won't even claim your own title?"

"My lady, it's only a couple of bows. Surely you're not frightened?" Her voice dropped low. "You were so proud of yourself just a moment ago."

"Once I bear the heir's pup, even the position of his bonded mate will be mine."

"Honestly, how has someone as foolish as you survived this long? The seat of Luna Shadowmere, wasted on someone like you. What a pity."

"The day I enter the pack estate as the true Luna, I'll have you kneel before me and serve me in deference as a concubine. Just the thought of it makes me smile."

She straightened up. "My lady, you still owe one more bow."

"This one is for the pup in my belly. After all, you did kick him earlier."

When I lifted my head, the passersby flinched. My hair had come loose from its pins, and the blood from my forehead was matted into the dark strands, making the sight all the worse. Somewhere beneath the copper scent of my own blood, I could barely catch my own scent anymore. The moonflower had gone faint, buried under iron and pain.

"Moon Goddess, she's bleeding. This is going too far."

"She's the heir's bonded mate, for pity's sake. If someone dies over this, there'll be hell to pay."

"Exactly. That unbonded she-wolf has some nerve."

Celeste only glanced at the guard. He pressed harder. I clenched my teeth and braced against the stone. "You wouldn't dare. I am the Alpha's..."

Hoofbeats cut through the air. A column of riders reined to a halt before us, the scent of road dust and distant pine rolling ahead of them. "What is going on here?"

I looked up. Ferris Shadowmere sat high in the saddle, surveying the scene, his traveling cloak still powdered with the grit of the northern roads. He had only just returned to the capital. The dry cedar bark and copper of his scent hit me before his gaze did, and my wolf went very still.