By sunrise, Diana had made her decision.
She was going back.
Katherine watched her mother sharpen a knife.
“You said you were finished with war.”
“I was.”
“Then why are you carrying that?”
Diana stopped.
She looked at the blade.
For twelve years, she had refused to touch a weapon.
She had wanted Katherine to grow up without knowing what it meant to be feared.
“I made one mistake,” Diana said.
“What?”
“I trusted the wrong people with my daughter.”
Katherine looked away.
“I wasn't worth protecting.”
Diana's eyes hardened.
“Never say that again.”
“But I'm powerless.”
“Power isn't the only thing that makes someone valuable.”
Katherine swallowed.
Diana knelt before her.
“I hid who I was because I wanted you to have a normal life. I thought if nobody knew you were my daughter, nobody could use you against me.”
Katherine stared at her.
“You're hiding something.”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Diana hesitated.
Before she could answer, a branch snapped outside.
Both women turned.
A man stood between the trees.
He wore Conroy colors.
Diana stepped in front of Katherine.
The stranger raised both hands.
“I didn't come to fight.”
“Then why are you here?”
“My name is Elias. I'm the youngest scout in the Conroy pack.”
Katherine recognized him.
He had once slipped her food when the others refused to feed her.
“You helped me,” she said.
Elias nodded.
“I tried.”
“Why did you follow me?”
“Because they're going to kill you.”
Diana's expression didn't change.
“Who?”
“Alpha Marcus Conroy.”
“Why?”
Elias looked at Katherine.
“Because he knows who your mother is.”
Silence filled the cabin.
Diana's eyes narrowed.
“What does he know?”
Elias reached inside his coat and pulled out a folded piece of parchment.
He placed it on the table.
Diana opened it.
It was an old royal decree.
At the bottom was the seal of Julius Redblood.
Above the seal was a sentence written in faded ink:
If I die, the crown belongs to Diana.
Katherine stared at her mother.
“You were a queen?”
Diana said nothing.
Elias whispered:
“They've been searching for you for fifteen years.”
“Why?”
“Because Lord Julius never died in battle.”
Diana's hand went still.
Elias leaned closer.
“He was betrayed.”
“And the Conroys were involved.”
Elias nodded.
“They weren't just involved.”
He looked toward the window.
“They were the ones who sold him to his enemies.”
Diana unfolded the final page—and saw her own signature authorizing the order that supposedly led to Julius's death.