The palace returned to its usual rhythm after the masquerade music, flattery, empty promises in golden halls.
But something had shifted.
The courtiers laughed softer. Bowed deeper. Watched each other too closely.
Because Evelyne Ashthorn had returned, and she had not knelt.
"They'll call you mad," Julian said, pacing the edge of her chamber. "They'll say you're grasping at ghosts."
Evelyne poured tea with steady hands. "Let them talk. Talking is safer than acting."
"And when they stop being afraid?"
She looked up, meeting his gaze.
"Then they'll start dying."
In the Library of Shadows
She met him in secret. Not a noble, not a knight.
A bastard. A rumor. A man no one wanted to believe existed.
Rowan Dorne.
His hair was black as crows' wings, his smile all teeth and danger. He wore no sigil. No title. Just a dagger on each hip and a history soaked in whispers.
"So the dead girl wants revenge," he said, lounging on the edge of a desk.
"The dead girl wants allies," Evelyne replied. "Ones not chained to court games."
"And you think I'm not?"
"No." She stepped closer. "I think you've just been waiting for someone to make this interesting."
He studied her.
Then smiled like a wolf.
"You've got teeth, Lady Ashthorn. Let's see if you've got claws."
They made a pact that night not in blood, but in shared hate.
He would give her secrets. Movements. Names the court thought hidden.
And she…
She would give him a chance to bring down everything that spat him out.
"Why me?" Rowan asked as they parted.
Evelyne turned, her eyes like winter's edge.
"Because I don't want a knight. I want a monster the court forgot to fear."
Elsewhere…
Prince Lucien stood at the edge of his balcony, watching the moonlit city.
"She's building something," he murmured.
His advisor stepped forward. "You still think she can be swayed?"
Lucien didn't answer.
He remembered the way she looked at him like a man already buried.
"If I can't stop her," he said softly, "then I have to survive her."
But survival was no longer a guarantee.
Because Evelyne Ashthorn had remembered what they took.
And she was gathering wolves.