*Ciana*
The ride back to the castle was quiet and long. For hours and hours, I sat in a seat across from Theo, but like on the way here, we didn't speak much—except this time, I wasn't upset with him. I was upset with myself.
I'd gone to a whole lot of trouble for absolutely no reason. While I had figured out that there were multiple problems brewing in my pack, I had solved exactly none of them. And even worse, my good friend and mentor had been killed in order to frame me for her murder.
Every time I thought about her, I felt overwhelmed by suffocating sadness and white-hot anger. The pain growing within my chest was too raw and too fresh for me to even accept that it was real, and I longed to be out of the range of the prince's watchful eye so I could let my emotions out.
Theo had o
