Page 93 of Song of the Dark Wood

She cleared her throat. “The Wolf can sense people’s worst fear. He sensed that mine had shifted.”

“He’s seen it before?” Finn asked.

“Yes,” she murmured.

He silently led her into the ceremony room.

She was instantly assaulted by the coppery scent of blood, and as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she narrowly avoided a red puddle on the floor. Blood painted the walls in bright red splotches, and on the altar, what was left of Elder Garrett made a gruesome centerpiece. His eyes bulged, his face frozen in a shriek of terror. The red silk ties he had shown Rowan were wrapped around his neck.

Rowan wasn’t nearly as horrified as she should have been by the sight. A vindictive part of her she hadn’t known existed until that moment took a small bit of satisfaction in knowing he’d felt fear as potent as that which he’d inflicted on her.

She met Finn’s gaze, and he nodded at the wall to their right.

Touch her at your peril.

The words were written in blood on the wall above the large wooden trunk at the far side of the room.

“Well, I suppose there’s no mistaking this,” Rowan mumbled.

Finn looked startled by her calm. “Rowan, I think you’re in shock.”

She crossed the room to the trunk. She lifted the lid, and inside, she found a bunch of brown leather-bound journals. She flipped the first one open and found notes from Evelyn, Orla’s predecessor.

“Finally,” Rowan breathed.

“Row, how are you so calm?” Finn whispered.

“Because someone who wanted to hurt me is dead, Finn.”

“How can you condone such violence?” he asked.

She could hardly breathe around her outrage. “Probably the same way you did: by telling myself it’s for the greater good and assuming it’s the will of the gods.”

Finn’s horror only made her angrier. He was so blind, and the longer he refused to look at the hypocrisy, the more her rage swelled.

Rowan had been silent and steady when she wanted to scream and fight. She had doneeverythingthey asked of her. She had given them so much and still, they wanted to take more. For so long, she’d been certain Finn could get there—that when he saw her suffering, the issue would become more personal.

Now, the realization that he would never confront the discomfort of his own complicity made her cold all over.

“What has that monster done to you?” Finn asked.

She rolled her eyes. “He hasn’t done anything except give me autonomy.”

Finn shook his head. “You’re so cold now. What happened to the sweet girl that I fell in love with?”

Rowan blew out a disbelieving laugh. “She never existed.”

She turned to face the rest of the elders huddled by the entrance. “I’ll need someone to bring these journals up to my room in the tower.”

“Lady Rowan, we’d be happy to pack these up for you to bring to your tower. We do feel, though, that it may be best…to appease the Wolf, of course…for you to go and stay at his keep,” Elder Graves stammered.

“I don’t think that’s what he wants at all.” Rowan laughed in disbelief. “I’m certain that’s not what he meant. He just didn’t want me to be rituallyblessed.”

The elders averted their eyes.

“Please, Red, we just want the Wolf to be happy. If he comes back, we have no idea what souls he will reap,” Elder Raymond said.

It was unfathomable for them to ask for her mercy after what they’d planned. If she was a different person, she’d send Conor back for the rest of them.

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