Page 47 of The Lure of Wolves and Whispers

“What are you doing here, Wolf? Other than wasting my time, if you’re not going to tell me how Finn is doing.”

Wolf studies me. His voice drops to a mocking whisper, but he never tears his hard gaze from mine. “Like I said. Making sure you aren’t a liar.”

I meet the burn of his eyes. “Do you have a death wish?”

This castle is crawling with gardai, especially with the First Look tonight.

And I still have no idea when the noble daughters will try to kill me, what I should wear, or how many weapons I can fit on me—if I can bring any at all.

Wolf shifts against the wall, just enough so a slash of lightfrom past the edge of the tapestry bleeds across his face. The flicker reveals under-eye circles so dark they could be deep bruises, and the sliver of old pain in his green eyes makes my gut twist.

I shove the feeling away.

The hard lines of his features smooth into a practiced, and infuriating, calm.

“You’re all…” His slow, guarded gaze roams up my neck, over my face. His tooth briefly catches at the edge of his lip as he bites at it, thinking, and for a second, he seems almost… taken aback.“Flushed.”

I lift my chin at him. “Heat and steam have that effect.”

“You were in the baths?” He takes half a step forward, then stops himself. “You shouldn’t be there alone, Maeve.”

The way my name sounds from his mouth is dangerous.

Not because I hate it. Because Ishould… but I don’t.

I force myself to hold his unyielding gaze. “I wasn’t alone.”

Not that I owe him any answers.

Wolf’s jaw ticks. “There are half a dozen women walking around these halls who would dance in your blood as soon as they spill it. Not just in the three tests for the Assay—cunning, wisdom, and strength.” He emphasizes the words. “But in every hall, every ballroom you walk into,” he says, voice tight. “That’s not even counting the hundred high and lower nobles betting more money than half of them are worth on the outcome of this. And you just go around with strangers?”

“What, because you’re so much safer?” I laugh softly. He’s already put my life at risk. “And it’s seven women who want to kill me.” If he’s going to hammer on about the risks, he might as well get the number right. There are seven women, all from thefamilies with the emptied Seven Wells, who want me dead.

Or should it be eight? All the banners that were flying from the town houses in the merchant quarter blur in my mind, along with what Aoife said about the houses disinherited in the uprising. Or were they wiped out? Heat blurs the memories.

The glare Wolf levels at me could skewer.

“Six,” he repeats, hard and low. Conflict pulls at the corners of his eyes. “Past Assays have had seven. This one won’t, after the uprising. You’ll get a better look at them soon.”

There are so many things I should use this chance to ask him. What will happen tonight? Which of the noble daughters might try to kill me first? I traded my life for the magic to save Finn’s, yes. But why do the Whisperers want that debt repaidnow?

But none of them are what I ask.

“Is Finn…?” Her name comes out desperate, and for once, I don’t care if he hears the fear in my voice. He’s the one who came here, who pulled me into this alcove and brought her up. The need to know she’s okay is a physical ache, right down to my bones.

Heavy silence fills the alcove.

She’s okay. Shehasto be okay.

There’s no world where my sister isn’t…

Some part of the hardness in his expression relents. Wolf lets out a tight breath, eyes flickering over my face, as if he’s studying me anew.

“She’s alive.” Wolf says the words softly, and there’s a faint gleam in his eyes as if he’s mulling over an amusing memory. “She sends her… regards.”

If anything less than half of thoseregardsaren’t curses sheyelled while aiming her fists directly at his head, then I don’t know my sister.

“You’ve seen her?” I let out a breath, and a wild surge of relief swells in my chest. “She’s helping you, isn’t she? Fighting for whatever you’re planning.”