The Night Prince

Aurora sneaks into Blake’s empty bedchambers and begins searching for the missing pages. In his desk drawers, she finds letters from a spy signed M detailing plans for the siege on the Borderlands, as well as maps, a list of poisons, and the romance novel he took from her, The Alpha’s Fate. She discovers a faded family tree of her ancestors with her great-grandmother, Freja Månsken, at the bottom and two names scrubbed out at the top. A note from M states the document was found Sebastian’s office.

Wondering why both Blake and Sebastian were investigating her ancestry, Aurora pockets the family tree. As she searches beneath the rug, voices approach. She hides under the bed as Blake and Jack enter. Blake asks Jack—who expresses concern about Blake’s recklessness—to investigate the Dark Beast that Alexander possesses, explaining what he saw in Night’s prison in his dream with Aurora. Blake wants Elsie and Arran kept safe at Lowfell.

After Jack departs, Blake gets into bed and falls asleep. Aurora crawls out and spots parchment under his pillow. As she reaches for it, Blake’s eyes open, and he pins her to the mattress.

Blake notices the parchment Aurora stole. After a brief struggle, he takes the parchment from her hand. Enraged, Aurora uses the bond against him, pulling on his essence until she overwhelms him and reclaims the pages. She reads the word “Anam-Cridech” before Blake tackles her and throws the parchment into the fire. Her inner wolf takes over, enraged, making her bite his arm. Blake warns that breaking the skin will mark him. To calm her, he floods the bond with his emotions, causing her to pass out.

She falls into a shared dream showing a memory of Blake being tortured in the Southlands. Blake forces her into her own memory of imprisonment when James tried to coerce her into marrying him. As the dream version of Blake confronts her, she misremembers the scene more sexually, and the real Blake teases her for dreaming of him this way. In a third memory, a young Aurora sits with her mother by a moonlit lake. They know her mother said something important, but neither can hear her.

They awaken at the foot of Blake’s bed. Seeing the ashes in the fireplace, Aurora demands he break the bond. He says he cannot. She threatens to ruin him through their connection. Blake replies she already haunts him, and he should tell her the truth.

Blake explains that he cannot break the bond because he did not create it. He refutes her assumption that he orchestrated the bond so he could usurp the throne from Callum; in reality, that wasn’t his plan. When Aurora asks what Anam-Cridech is, Blake tells her that she already knows, but he will not explain.

Before he can elaborate, Lochlan enters with four guards bearing Callum’s orders to imprison Blake for plotting against the throne. Blake peacefully allows himself to be shackled. As he is led away, he tells Lochlan to inform Callum that he still doesn’t know Blake’s true intentions. Blake instructs Aurora to visit him in the dungeons when she figures out the truth, then is taken away.

Aurora retrieves The Alpha’s Fate from Blake’s desk. Callum arrives, upset when he sees the rumpled bed and smells Blake’s scent on her. Enraged, Callum asks if she was in Blake’s bed and whether she wants Blake, bringing up seeing them dance at Lowfell. He tells her to have a bath, saying he will deal with her later.

Outraged, Aurora asks what Anam-Cridech is. Callum freezes, confirming he knows its meaning. He again orders her to bathe and uses his alpha voice to command her not to follow him. The command feels like physical force, but she pushes it off, just as she resisted Blake’s power. Nonetheless, she does not follow.

Alone that evening, Aurora begins reading The Alpha’s Fate and finds a passage describing wolves who share a bond called Anam-Cridech. Remembering that Elsie said the castle’s cook, Mrs. McDonald, wrote these novels, Aurora goes to the kitchens.

Mrs. McDonald explains that Anam-Cridech is a rare bond created by the Moon Goddess that must be accepted by both parties. Otherwise, the connection can’t be fully realized. Callum’s brother, James, had such a bond with his former betrothed, Claire, but it never solidified because she refused it. Once accepted, it is unbreakable except by the Moon Goddess herself.

Aurora leaves. She realizes the Anam-Cridech is a mate bond, something Callum described earlier in their relationship, believing they had one. Upset, she contemplates whether to confront Callum or Blake about the bond.

Aurora bursts into Callum’s chambers and finds him in the bathtub. She accuses him of lying about the bond. In a rage, she throws soap and a washcloth at him, then swings a candlestick at his head. Callum catches it and pulls her into the tub on top of him. Drenched, she demands answers.

Callum admits he’s had suspicions about the bond since the night James bit her and confirmed it by reading Blake’s book. He hid the truth because he was upset. He argues there is no fixing the unbreakable bond but confesses his torment and desire for her. His words arouse her. Callum warns her to get out of the tub, but she refuses. He asks what she wants.

Aurora tells him she wants him. He lifts her from the tub and they have sex, though she has to urge him to be more aggressive with her, as he treats her like she’s delicate.

Afterward, Callum asks what she wants for their future. He admits he tried but failed to make peace with the bond. The Anam-Cridech is sacred, and what they just did is taboo in his kingdom because she is bound to Blake. He intends to end their relationship. Aurora declares she will find the Heart of the Moon, use its power to break the bond, and return to him. Callum doubts the bond can be broken, but she insists she must try.

Aurora wakes the next morning in Callum’s bed, feeling at peace but sad. She resolves to find her own identity outside her relationships to powerful men and learn the truth about her mother and ancestry. After they wake, Callum says he must something.

Fearing he will kill Blake, Aurora follows as Callum grabs swords and goes to Philip’s room. Callum challenges him to a courtyard duel. Aurora is shocked to discover Philip is not only a match for Callum but arguably the better fighter, moving with deadly grace. Callum laughingly tags in Lochlan, whom Philip also outmatches. Callum offers ale to any wolf who can defeat Philip. Several try, but Philip skillfully fights off five opponents. Amused, Callum calls an end, claps Philip on the shoulder, and says he has a job for him.

Callum takes Aurora to the castle wall. He reminisces about their past and says his night they first slept together was the best of his life. He reasserts that the Anam-Cridech is an unbreakable bond created by the Moon Goddess, Ghealach, but Aurora insists she will break it. Callum agrees to let her go, stating it is unsafe for her at the castle due to Alexander’s threat and potential traitors.

He reveals that Philip will escort her to the port of Glas-Cladach, then travel to the neighboring Snowlands to request an alliance with its ruler, Queen Ingrid. Aurora agrees. Callum says he will release Blake once she is safely away, warning that Blake will likely follow her. Callum believes there is goodness in Blake, citing how he sheltering Alfie and his mother from Alfie’s abusive father, Magnus. She promises to return from her travels, and he promises to wait. At her request, he holds her as they watch the sky together.

The next day, Aurora and Philip ride away from Madadh-allaidh. Aurora recalls her goodbyes and, through the bond, senses Blake knows she is leaving. After a day of tense travel and bickering, they camp in a forest. Aurora asks Philip to tell his story. He reveals he was bitten before leaving the palace, which hurts Aurora since he knew about wolves and kept it from her.

Philip explains his past cruelty stemmed from jealousy over her seemingly easier life compared to his military training. He began suspecting he was a wolf before their mother died. One night, drunk and curious, he went to the palace dungeons during the full moon, taunted the imprisoned wolves, and was bitten by Jack, making Blake his alpha. Philip went to the Snowlands to learn about their mother and developed strong feelings for their ruler, Ingrid. He seeks the Heart of the Moon, which the Snowlands people call the Blood of the Moon, to win her favor.

That night, Aurora is pulled into Blake’s erotic dream about her. Blake appears in the dream, lacking his characteristic self-control, and almost seduces her until he mentions Callum. Aurora rejects him, fleeing the dream.