Kieran offered Mara sanctuary under Nightfall law, but sanctuary required truth. Before his council, she described Rowan's plan and surrendered the wolfsbane vial. Half the wolves believed her. The other half saw only the runaway bride of their enemy.
Kieran refused to claim the bond burning between them. He gave Mara a room with an unlocked door and told her she could leave at sunrise. The restraint unsettled her more than force would have.
That night, a Blackthorn messenger arrived carrying Rowan's apology and Mara's younger sister's necklace. Rowan would spare the girl if Mara returned before moonrise.
Mara packed in silence. When she opened her door, Kieran was waiting in the corridor with twenty armed wolves. “You may choose to go back,” he said, “but you will not go alone.”