Chapter 31 · Sunup

Vane's voice slid under my skin, warm as oil.

*Ask him.*

Ask him what.

*Ask him if he'll still want you when the pup comes out with your mother's eyes.*

I kept walking. Head down. Palm flat over my stomach under the wool, like three inches of knit hides anything from a wolf.

Cedar hit me first. Then iron.

"You're shaking."

Valerius came out of the dark at the end of the hall and the corridor got small. No black tonight. Loose shirt, sleeves shoved past the elbow, collar open at the throat. His eyes never made it to my face. They went to my hand on my belly and stopped there.

"I'm cold," I said.

"It's seventy degrees in here, Seraphina."

"Then fix your furnace."

One step from him. One back from me. My shoulder blades found stone. He stopped close enough that the heat off his chest came through the wool.

"Vane's been talking to you."

"Vane talks to everyone. He likes his own mouth."

"I can smell him on you. He's been in your head." His hand came up fast.

I flinched.