DESDEMONA

I couldn't stop thinking about Kieran's words.

If she returns, Alaric will not be the only person in danger.

They followed me everywhere. While I worked, while I ate, even when I lay in bed at night, the words kept returning to me. I had spent so much time trying to understand Alaric that I was beginning to realize I had only scratched the surface. His mother, the Wolf King, Kieran, Muna... every answer seemed to lead to another question, and every question seemed to bring me closer to something that someone had desperately tried to bury.

I knew I should have left it alone.

After everything that had...