ALYSSA
My grip around the glass tightens as I feel Madam Ria's hard gaze on me. How did she suspect it? I don't have a wolf, so she couldn't have smelled it on me.
"What makes you think that? It's—it's nothing like that," I say, my palms sweating profusely. I don't want to lie to Madam Ria, who has been nothing but kind to me. But I don't have a choice. She could reveal my secret to Alaric.
Madam Ria's face softens, and her shoulders relax slightly as she looks at me. "You don't have to be scared of me, Alyssa. I'm not planning to tell anyone," she says, as if reading my mind.
"There's no secret," I mutter immediately,
hiding my face behind my hair. I'm sorry, Madam Ria.
Madam Ria presses her lips into a line, then says, "I've been watching you struggle in the kitchen, sweetie. And I have years of experience to know that it's not just the aftereffect of your banishment."
