Chapter 86

Seris’s POV

She finished the apple in her hand, tossed the core into a crystal bowl at her side, and picked up another fruit. Her pale eyes glinted with satisfaction as she began again. “After I tampered with the ancient tomes, I realized it wouldn’t be easy to convince everyone that my version of the Silver Wolf was the true one—most of the elders had already read the original. So I wove a memory-erasure spell, selectively wiping from their minds the real legend. Then, using a subtle form of compulsion, I manipulated them into purchasing and believing the false accounts in my counterfeit volumes. Everything fell neatly into place, and before long, the whole world agreed that the Silver Wolf was cursed.”

I was beside myself with rage. Every muscle in my body ached to wrench at the iron cuffs binding my wrists, to hurl myself at her and choke her with those chains. She deserved far worse than that.

Valeria didn’t even bother to look up. She continued, as casu