The Silver Ridge Territory was not a place for the weak, and Scarlett Vale had long ago decided that she would never be among the lowly.

"Silence!" Scarlett shrieked, her composed facade finally shattering into jagged shards of hysteria.

Grant Lawson inhaled a sharp, cold breath of mountain air. "I was willing to let you crawl back to the Vale Stronghold with a shred of dignity, Scarlett. But that trail is closed. We are summoning the Council Enforcers. Your scent is all over this treason."

"Stop howling lies!" Scarlett snapped, her voice thin with a rising panic.

She looked around the torchlit clearing, searching for a single ally, a single...