KATE
The world around me shifted in an instant at the woman’s words, the magically deceiving forest faded away, leaving in its wake a naked space that seemed to be made entirely out of clouds.
Even the ground on which we stood seemed to have shifted as well, and now that I was actually paying attention, we were on some kind of platform, hovering in the air while the rest of our surroundings basked in a faint silver light.
But none of that mattered to me, because right before us sat the First Alphas—twenty ethereal beings, twelve women, ten men, each on a high throne, their eyes piercing and judgmental as they watched me, as though they were already displeased by my very presence and my unsolicited intrusion.
The woman s***h faery who had brought me curtsied slightly and disappeared i
