I returned to the keep with the ring still on my finger and the promise of shared patrols sealed in my mind. The bailey felt different that afternoon, the air lighter, the voices carrying farther across the stone.
Wolves nodded as I passed, their eyes steady instead of wary. The victory over the Nightthorn Triad had shifted something inside them. The diplomacy ride had sealed it.
I walked straight to the war room and spread the new maps across the table. The western borders now carried the Gray Hollow pack's mark. Their scouts would ride the passes with ours. Their grain stores would trade for our iron. The alliance was small, but it was real. The kings gathered around me, their presence solid and quiet.
Darius traced the new patrol lines with his finger. "This changes the western ridge. We gain eyes where we had none."
Kane leaned over the table, his scarred hand resting on the edge. "The gammas will see it too. The ones who still doubted will have less room to speak."
