Direbound

For two weeks, Meryn trains with Stark and attends her usual Rawbond training. Egith’s replacement, Gamma Daegan, has difficulty giving orders to Meryn during a training exercise with the Daemos pack because she’s his Alpha. Jonah targets Meryn during the exercise because his wolf was Perielle’s mate, and he blames Meryn for her death. He knocks her off Anassa and breaks her nose. He’s about to attack her, but Stark intervenes and subdues him.

Stark then calls Meryn to his office. He offers to break her nose again to set it properly. It’s painful, but Stark proves attentive as he aligns the bones, and the moment is intimate. Anassa heals her, and Stark tells Meryn that she must learn to instruct her pack, especially Daegan, who is meant to teach her. Before leaving, she thanks him for the first time.

As her training with Stark continues, Meryn comes to appreciate his methods since her strength and mental sharpness have improved. While they spar, she notices an opening and beats him for the first time. When she returns to her room, Killian is waiting for her. He tends to her, cursing Stark, and Meryn asks for some privacy from Anassa, though she doesn’t completely close their bond. She and Killian have sex, and then she asks Killian whether he knows what’s beneath the arena. He claims he doesn’t. When he leaves, Meryn is convinced that the king is keeping secrets from everyone.

She finds Venna and asks for her help since she, as a Kryptos, has spying abilities. As she asks Venna to keep an eye out for oddities, a messenger arrives with news from the front: They may have located the missing children in Grunfall.

Meryn runs back to gather her things, her anxiety swirling. Stark finds her and, once informed of the situation, resolves not to let her go alone. Meryn refuses. When she asks Anassa for guidance, the wolf surprisingly supports Stark. They quickly leave the city for Grunfall. Meryn still believes that Stark hates her, despite his attempt to reassure her along the way. Hours later, they stop in the town of Linsfall to sleep for the night. They head to an inn, but Meryn is distracted and entranced by an enormous statue of the Faceless Goddess. Meryn pays her respects, though Stark mocks belief in the goddess. They discuss how commoners look to her in their prayers since they can’t trust the king. Before leaving, she prays that she’ll find Saela and the children.

At the inn, they take the only room left. The locals recognize Stark and react with awe. While they eat, a bard sings about a Bonded hero who singlehandedly saved the whole city from a Siphon incursion. After the song, Stark goes to the bard, seemingly to reprimand him. Meryn learns that the song is about Stark when he saved the city by himself five or six years ago.

In their rented room, Meryn and Stark get ready for bed. When she swaps clothing, he notices the scars on her leg. He thinks that they’re torture marks made by Killian, but Meryn corrects him: They’re self-inflicted. Stark is shocked but doesn’t question why she would inflict such pain on herself. When he struggles to sleep on the floor, Meryn offers him half the bed.

The next morning, they rush to Grunfall and find their military encampment. They meet with Egith, who gives them a summary of their situation and details about the sightings of the children near a religious temple, which the Siphons have converted to an outpost. Egith shows Meryn a picture of the Siphon general and their king, Lucien Brightbane, both of whom appear ethereally beautiful. Meryn, however, notes that something about Lucien is familiar. They decide to attack at sunset.

They gather for the covert operation, and Meryn worries about Saela. She admires how calm and collected Stark is, as he seems like the picture of a competent Alpha. He directs her and Anassa to stay with him at all times since she has never been in Siphon territory before. Grudgingly, Meryn accepts and fortifies herself. They slip into the temple, Stark dispatching the Siphon guards as they go. However, when they arrive at the center of the temple, six Siphons ambush them. Meryn devises a plan using street-fighting habits rather than the usual military tactics. Together, they kill many Siphons, but when they descend to the basement, they find it empty. The children were transported elsewhere, and Meryn deduces that the Siphons were aware of their oncoming attack.

At the camp, they interrogate a Siphon guard who survived. The guard tries to distract Meryn and gaslight her. She brutally tortures him, rage consuming her. Eventually, she kills him by sawing off his head. Meryn returns to her tent, and Stark finds her to tattoo her Siphon kills on her upper arm. As before, the intimacy and Stark’s proximity unnerve Meryn. She quietly reveals how long Saela has been gone and how much hope she had for this mission. When he licks the tattoo this time, her body reacts instinctively, and they nearly share a kiss, but the moment is broken when Egith arrives to check on Meryn.

Two days later, they return to Sturmfrost. Meryn is confused about the near-kiss and feels guilty. She decides to stop at her old home to visit her mother, but when she arrives, Igor tells her that her mother had a bad symptomatic episode. Guards forcefully subdued her and killed her. Grief and guilt at not being there for her mother ravage Meryn, and she runs to find Killian in his study. He comforts her as she collapses in his arms. She realizes that she’ll be all alone in the world if she can’t find Saela. Anassa reminds Meryn that she has her (her wolf) just as Killian proposes to her. He gives Meryn an engagement band. Anassa tries to dissuade her from deciding immediately, but Meryn accepts his proposal. She believes that the prospect of being Killian’s queen feels right.