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While that’s fascinating from a medical sense, it’s inconvenient. This stupid heat is driving me closer to my sponsors. At the same time, intimacy with them changes me in ways I imagine are very permanent.

I press a cool cloth to my forehead and sigh when it steams.

It doesn’t seem like my body temperature is going down anytime soon.

And it’s only morning.

It’s going to be a long day.

Assuming I survive it.

Giving up on cooling off when I’ve burned all the water out of the towel, I exit the tent and find Ulara waiting for me. She gives me a knowing smile. “Good morning, princess. I was wondering if I was going to have to go in there and wake you up.” She glances at Godric’s necklace now hanging around my neck and frowns. “I hope you both know what you’re doing.”

“I trust Godric,” I say, surprising myself.

Do I really trust him?

Maybe.

I’m starting to, anyway.

Ulara gives me a nod, as if that’s good enough for her, and we head to the training grounds as I keep one step behind her.

There’s a huge crowd already waiting.

When I spot Godric with the other Alphas, my stomach flips. He immediately homes in on my presence, and his nostrils flare.

He gives me a nod, then turns his attention back to the Alphas.

Mixed feelings swarm in my core. We had such an intense discussion the night before, but now it’s “pack first, concubine later.”

Except I’m wearing his necklace, I think as I toy with it between my fingers. I certainly feel like Godric has somehow publicly claimed me.

Even if he’s not technically my sponsor, it’s a statement when I know Arwan is here.

I can’t find the arrogant royal, but I do spot the other candidates. Ulara leads me to the group and drops me off.

Sofia might be pretending not to be nervous, but she has a tic that gives her away.

She chews on her pinkie nail, which has now been bitten down to the nub. She stares in the other direction as if completely engrossed.

Gently, I push her finger out of her mouth. “You’re going to be fine,” I reassure her. “If you can survive training with Ulara this long, this is going to be a piece of cake.” The shifter has already disappeared into the crowd, but I have no doubt she’s in there keeping an eye on me.

Sofia blinks at me a few times as if she didn’t expect me to appear in front of her. Then she throws her arms around my neck and squeezes me. “You’re alive,” she whispers as if in disbelief.

I chuckle as I pat her on the back. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

She sniffles as she finally releases me, then gives me a fiery look. “Those shifters dragged you out, and you didn’t return. When I saw her nose…” Sofia’s words drift off as she glances across the training grounds.

Now I can see where all the royals are collected. There’s a raised viewing platform, and they all peer down at us like this is some sort of spectacle.

Which, I suppose, it is.

Just like I had expected, there are cameras, court members, and the king perched to enjoy the show. Black shadows drip off of him and bleed over the stage. The royals surrounding him seem used to it, but it gives me the shivers as the dark tendrils of smoke seem to pluck at anyone who moves.

Only Arwan appears to be immune to the invasion. He stands off to the side in his royal outfit of shimmering velvet and silver embellishments.

I make the mistake of blinking. In a mesmerizing wave of power, it’s as if he’s standing right before me.