Heavy boots crunched against the gravel landing outside.
Dax whimpered from the rug, pulling his knees to his chin. "Don't touch that knob," he rasped. "If it's them, they'll slaughter us both."
"Shut up," I whispered.
A rough voice grunted through the wood. "Check the threshold. The tracker swore she ducked into this block."
"I don't catch a damn thing," a second voice muttered, sniffing the seam of the door. "Stinks like burnt grease and spoiled musk. Typical low-tier wolf gutter."
"Search the ground floor again," the first snapped. "If Thorne finds out we lost the trail, he’ll strip our hides."
Their footsteps thudded down the stairs, fading until the front entry iron gate slammed shut below.
I slid the deadbolt home.
The security latch clicked into place, and my knees gave out. I slid down the hard surface of the door until my rear hit the floor mat. My cotton tunic clung to my spine, drenched in cold sweat.
Dax crawled two paces toward me, reaching out a trembling hand. "El? Are they gone? Did you hear them?"
"Pick up your pants," I said, my voice dead and low. "Take your whore and get out before they double back."
"Elowen, be reasonable—"
"Get out!" I shouted, the roar scraping my throat raw.
He flinched back, scrambled into the bedroom, and dragged Seren out by the wrist ten seconds later. She kept her head down, clutching her shoes to her chest. Neither looked at me as they squeezed past the front entrance and vanished into the rain.
I slammed the door, bolted every latch, and staggered into the washroom.
The mirror above the sink showed the distorted face my glamour projected back at me.
I turned on the tap and pressed two fingers to the alchemical sigil hidden near my hairline. The glamour shivered across my reflection, then peeled away in bands of silver light.
Beneath the collapsing illusion, my actual face emerged. High cheekbones carved from pale marble, lips the color of crushed berries, and eyes that held the clear, luminous sheen of the Moonveil bloodline. It was a face that could make the wrong bloodline broker rich—or get me killed on the spot.
"Hide it," I muttered, shaking water onto my palms. "Cover it up."
I opened the cabinet, uncapped a vial of binding salve, and traced a thin line over the sigil near my hairline. The alchemical medium warmed against my skin as the glamour rebuilt itself—dulling my features, muddying my complexion, and masking the Moonveil resonance beneath a sour synthetic scent.
By sunrise, the girl in the mirror was gone again.
***
The morning air in the courtyard of Hound's End Academy was damp and gray.
Students crowded the stone steps, clutching backpacks and padded training batons. As I passed through the archway, two girls in silver-trimmed blazers stepped squarely into my path.
"Ugh, back up," Lila said, pinching her nostrils shut. "Seriously, what did the freak eat for breakfast? Rotten ditch moss?"
Maren shoved my shoulder with her elbow, laughing in my face. "Don't stand downwind of her. She probably sleeps in a compost bin to keep warm."
"Move," I said, keeping my chin tucked into my wool collar.
"Or what, dirt-crawler?" Lila sneered. "Going to cry on your boyfriend? Oh wait, word around the dorms is Dax ditched you for someone with actual human features."
I stepped sideways off the cobblestones, letting my boots sink into the wet grass, and circled around them without another word.
"Elowen!"
A sudden scream cut across the quad.
Light footsteps pounded across the stones. Seren appeared out of the fog, her eyes red, her hands reaching out in a frantic scramble. She threw her arms around my neck, squeezing so hard the rough wool of her cloak scratched my cheek.
"Elowen! Thank god you're alive!" she sobbed against my shoulder.
I stood stiff, my arms hanging limp at my sides. "What do you want, Seren?"
"Dax told me everything," she cried, pulling back just enough to grip my forearms. Her fingers dug in like talons. "He traded your schedule to some bounty broker! Thorne's enforcers are turning the lower district upside down looking for you!"
"Is that right?" I asked.
"Yes! They're sweeping every boarding house by nightfall," she urged, her breath hitching with dramatic urgency. "You can't go back to that flat. You have to come with me right now. My cousin has an old cellar behind the brewery—nobody ever checks there. I'll hide you!"
I looked into her face.
Her lower lip trembled, and tears tracked down her makeup. But beneath the terror, her scent gave her away. Wolves can disguise their words, but they cannot fool the blood. There was no fear in her sweat. It held the sharp, metallic tang of pure adrenaline.
Excitement.
She wasn't trying to save me. She was leading me straight to the cage.
"You really want to protect me?" I murmured.
"Of course I do!" Seren squeezed my hands, squeezing out another tear. "You're my sister, El. Dax made a mistake, but I would never let those butchers touch you. Please, trust me. Let me take you there before classes end."
"All right," I said softly.
A flash of triumph flared in her dark eyes before she smoothed it over with a relieved smile. "Good. Meet me behind the alchemy wing at five. Don't tell a single soul, okay?"
"I won't," I said.
She patted my arm and hurried toward the lecture hall, her steps light and swift.
I wiped the spot where her damp palms had touched my sleeve. "Traitor," I whispered to the empty air.
I skipped morning lectures entirely, slipping through the side gates and jogging through the muddy alleys toward the student dormitories on the edge of the canal.
The door to my narrow room squeaked as I nudged it shut. I dropped to my knees beside the cot, reaching deep beneath the warped timber floorboards until my knuckles hit cold iron.
I pulled out the dented metal lockbox.
Inside sat a stained strip of leather holding a silver dog tag, stamped with jagged block letters: *VOSS - 09.* Beside it lay half of an ink-stained journal, the edges bloated and illegible from river water.
It was everything I had left of my life before the fire.
My thumb rubbed against the raised letters on the tag, tracing the sharp edge of the V.
"Dad," I whispered, the glamour flickering faintly along my jaw as I clenched my teeth. "Wait for me a little longer."
A floorboard creaked in the hallway directly outside my door.
Then came the soft metallic click of a weapon being readied.
