EMBER’S POV

The Council of Elders exists because power unchecked becomes tyranny.

I’ve learned this in the past eighteen hours, piecing together information from Queenie’s whispered explanations and Knox’s terse answers.

Centuries ago, a Lycan King went mad with power and nearly drove our species to extinction.

The survivors built institutional restraints. Rules. A council that could file formal complaints, hold hearings, demand accountability from even the man who commands us all.

Knox is the undisputed authority in the kingdom. His word is law in most matters. But even he answers to the council when formal complaints are filed.

And Gale has filed a formal complaint.

I sit in Simone’s...