Chapter 52

Ronan’s POV

I stormed out of Varkhan’s castle in a rage. I refused to squander another second trying to coax answers from that feeble pretender. He claimed to be the ruler of all vampires, yet in my eyes he was the weakest chieftain I’d ever encountered. How he’d come to hold such power was beyond my comprehension. All the more reason he’d resorted to kidnapping Seris for some foolish, blood-soaked sacrifice. His thirst for dominance drove him to target my mate, and the thought of it burned me with fury.

When his letters first arrived, I’d assumed the whole affair was a bluff—an elaborate game from a man as comical as his reign. Yet Mother’s confirmation and the wolves’ council’s dire warnings left no doubt: if Varkhan drained Seris’s cursed blood, he’d become an abomination of power.

“What do you make of it, Noctyr?” I asked, striding across the pale swamp lands with my raging wolf at my side.

His amber eyes gleamed. “He speaks the truth. Six kingdoms