Chapter 1 Chapter 1: The Day the Goddess of War Dies

The two men I had marked as mine had signed the order for my death.

Asterion's blood seal gleamed beside Faolan's at the bottom of the parchment. I would have recognized them even in darkness.

My servants.

My mates.

The only two men I had ever trusted to stand behind me with weapons in their hands.

By sunset, they intended to turn those weapons against me. I read it once. Then twice. By the third time, the words remained unchanged.

At the third war horn, the northern formation would withdraw. I would be left alone beneath the eastern ridge, where Scarlet Raven's assassins would finish what the enemy army could not. Upon my death, Asterion and Faolan would be recognized as the joint Alphas of the Crescent Ice Pack.

The reward for their obedience.

My throne.

I pressed my thumb over the two dark-red seals. The bonds tied to the mating marks I had placed upon them warmed beneath my skin, answering the blood used to create them.

Genuine.

Father's voice returned from the grave. "Even the most obedient puppies eventually learn how to bite, princess. Make certain yours never forget whose hand feeds them."

Apparently, mine finally had.

I had believed Asterion and Faolan were different. How humiliating.

The battle beyond my tent grew louder. Steel rang against steel as soldiers prepared their weapons. Wolves snarled behind the barricades. Above them, the black-and-scarlet standard of Scarlet Raven snapped violently in the winter wind.

This was supposed to be my final battle beneath that banner.

By nightfall, I had intended to sever Crescent Ice Pack from Scarlet Raven. I had planned to take my two puppies with me. Instead, they had apparently chosen the organization, Scarlet Raven.

Footsteps stopped outside my tent. I folded the order and slipped it beneath the breastplate of my armor moments before the entrance opened.

Asterion entered first. He was dressed entirely in black armor, his dark-brown hair swept away from a face that betrayed nothing. His blue eyes briefly met mine before he lowered himself onto one knee.

Faolan followed him inside. Snow clung to his thick black hair, and fresh blood stained one of his gauntlets. None of it belonged to him. His amber eyes swept across the tent before he knelt beside Asterion. He looked at the table, the untouched wine, and finally my face. "What happened, little tyrant?"

Even on his knees, Faolan never sounded properly submissive.

I crossed one leg over the other and smiled. "I don't remember giving either of my puppies permission to question me."

"You didn't." His gaze dropped to my hand. "I'm questioning you anyway."

The insolence almost amused me.

I slipped the pointed toe of my boot beneath his chin and forced his face upward. Faolan allowed it, although the amusement in his eyes made it clear that obedience was his choice rather than his instinct.

"Careful," I murmured. "Father spent years trying to teach you how good puppies behave."

"And yet, you always preferred me disobedient."

My smile sharpened.

Faolan sounded careless only to those who did not know him. Every joke was a blade testing for weakness. From this close, he could probably smell the blood beneath my fingernails and the burned edge of the parchment hidden against my chest.

"Then, give me an order," he said.

"Go and win my war."

"Where will you be while we're winning it?"

Before I could answer, Asterion spoke. "You removed the succession seal."

My attention shifted toward him. His gaze rested upon my bare throat, where the silver crest of Crescent Ice Pack usually hung. I had left it inside the drawer beside my final decree.

I withdrew my boot from beneath Faolan's chin and stood. "You notice too much for a servant."

Asterion's expression did not change. I crossed the distance between us, caught his chin between my fingers, and forced his face upward. "Look at me when I'm speaking to you."

He obeyed before I could apply any real pressure. His cheek settled against my palm, leaning into my touch with the quiet instinct he had never outgrown.

Asterion's eyes were cold enough to silence armies. Yet whenever I touched him, the ice inside them melted.

My good puppy.

"Forgive me, my lady," he murmured.

I brushed my thumb along the edge of his jaw. "For noticing?"

"No."

"Then, what?"

"For speaking before you permitted it."

"At least one of you remembers his training."

Faolan scoffed beside him.

Asterion ignored him. His softened gaze remained fixed upon mine. "Why did you remove the seal?"

My fingers tightened around his chin. "You are questioning me again."

"Yes." The answer came calmly. Fearlessly. "You remove everything valuable before entering a battle you don't expect to survive," he continued. "Your pulse has not steadied since we entered, and you have been forcing our marks closed since dawn."

My smile nearly faltered. He knew me far too well. "Do I look frightened to you?"

"No." Asterion leaned more firmly into my palm. "You look like you're preparing to leave us."

Faolan's head lifted. The humor disappeared from his face. "Leave?"

I released Asterion and stepped away. "Neither of you is going anywhere with me. Take your soldiers to the eastern and western fronts. You will remain there until the battle ends."

"You intend to fight alone," Asterion said.

"I am the Goddess of War. I have always fought alone."

"No," Faolan said, rising without permission. "You have always had us."

The words struck somewhere they had no right to reach. I smirked to conceal it. "If I commanded both of you to die today, would you?"

Asterion did not hesitate. "Tell me where."

Faolan stood beside him, his amber eyes burning into mine. "Tell me who I take with me."

Beautiful answers from beautiful liars.

The first war horn sounded. I turned my back on them. "Go." Neither moved. "That was an order."

Their reluctance pulsed through the marks before I slammed both connections shut. Armor shifted behind me.

"Return to us, my moon," Asterion said quietly.

Then, they were gone.

I remained motionless until their footsteps disappeared beneath the noise of the camp. Only then did I open the drawer and look at the succession seal resting upon my decree.

If my throne was what they wanted, I would leave it to them. I would not condemn Crescent Ice Pack merely to punish the men who had betrayed me.

The second horn called us to war. I placed the decree where they would find it and walked out to meet my death.

Snow turned crimson beneath our wolves.

The enemy coalition had gathered beneath the eastern ridge, their banners representing the packs Crescent Ice Pack had conquered under Father's reign... and mine. Their hatred rolled across the battlefield with every shouted demand for my head.

I gave them blood instead.

Silver-blue power burst from my blade. The earth split beneath the first line of enemy soldiers, swallowing men and wolves before sealing beneath a sheet of ice. I moved through the next formation without slowing.

This was what Father had created me to become.

I am Polycaste, the Goddess of War.

The third horn sounded. Behind me, Crescent Ice Pack's northern formation withdrew. Exactly as the order had promised.

So that was it.

I searched the eastern and western fronts. Asterion and Faolan had both abandoned their assigned positions. They were cutting through the battlefield toward me, their wolves moving with desperate speed.

Coming to finish it themselves.

I lifted my bloodied hand toward the darkening sky. Moonlight gathered inside my palm.

The technique Father taught me had no name. He had warned me that dividing divine flesh from its shadow could only be attempted once. If performed incorrectly, the illusion would survive while the goddess died in its place.

I had always enjoyed gambling with my life.

An enemy spear pierced my shadow's chest just as moonfire erupted around us. I felt both mating marks tear shut.

Faolan's scream rose above the battlefield. "Pandora!"

My real body fell through the veil of fire and into the frozen ravine beneath the ridge. The river swallowed me, carrying me through darkness while the illusion burned in my place.

Through the thinning veil, I saw Faolan attempting to enter the flames. Three soldiers struggled to restrain him.

Asterion reached the scorched earth where I had stood and dropped to his knees. "My moon... Pandora... No..." The cold, controlled man who never bowed to anyone but me clawed through the ashes with his bare hands.

For one treacherous heartbeat, I nearly returned. Then, the folded order shifted beneath my armor. Their blood seals pressed against my heart.

I forced myself deeper into the river and allowed the current to carry me away.

They had chosen my throne.

I had merely given them what they wanted.

By sunrise, Asterion and Faolan would become the joint Alphas of Crescent Ice Pack.

Pandora Seitz would be remembered as the Goddess of War who died upon the battlefield.

And I would live under the only name I believed my mates had never known.

Polycaste.