ZARIA'S POV 
The morning after the standoff at the gates, I couldn't sit still. My mind was a complete mess. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Garrick’s hollow, pale face looking up at the balcony. My emotions were all over the place, looping between a strange sense of relief and a lingering, heavy anxiety. 
I knew that if I stayed in my room staring at the ceiling, I would drive myself insane. So, I walked down to Maeve’s greenhouse just to give my hands something to do.
Camilla came with me, of course. She hadn't left my side since the assassin attack in the gallery, acting like a silent, protective shadow. 
I sat on a low wooden stool at one of the workbenches, sorting through a massive pile of dried mud-roots that Maeve used for making healing salves. The repetitive motion of scraping the soil off the skin with a small knife was the only thing keeping me grounded.
Camilla sighed, her expression turning incredibly soft and sympathetic. She sat down on the edge of the workbench next to me.
"I get it. It's been a crazy twenty-four hours. But Garrick and his men are gone. You are safe here. You don't have to keep looking over your shoulder."
"I know," I whispered, setting the small knife down on the table. I wiped my dusty hands on my apron. "Seeing him yesterday... it just made everything feel so fresh again."
"He looked terrible, if that helps," Camilla offered, trying to lighten the mood. 
I let out a tiny, breathless laugh, but it faded quickly.
We fell back into a quiet silence. The only sound in the greenhouse was the distant, muffled whistling of the northern wind against the thick glass panels above our heads. 
Then, the peace completely shattered.
A loud, frantic shouting echoed from somewhere outside. It was muffled by the heavy glass doors, but the raw panic in the voices was unmistakable. 
A second later, the heavy iron bells began to ring from the palace towers. It was a fast, frantic, chaotic alarm that meant an immediate emergency.
"Stay here," Camilla ordered. Her friendly tone was completely gone. 
She turned to sprint toward the door, but I stood up so fast my stool knocked backward onto the floor.
"I'm coming with you."
Camilla stopped in her tracks, turning around with a hard, angry frown.
"Zaria, absolutely not. Are you crazy? The King will literally have my head if I let you walk straight into danger right after what happened last night."
Camilla stared at me, checking my face to see if I was bluffing. When she realized I wasn't going to budge an inch, she let out a sharp, frustrated breath and threw the greenhouse door open.
"Fine. But you stay right behind me.“
"Deal," I said.
We burst out of the warm and ran across the snowy courtyard, following the sound of the shouting warriors. Up ahead, right near the massive stone perimeter wall on the eastern side, a huge crowd of royal guards had already gathered. 
"What's going on here?" Camilla yelled as we slid to a halt near the back of the crowd.
The lead guard spun around. The second his eyes landed on me, he looked like he wanted to faint.
"Lady Zaria! What are you doing here? You need to go back to the palace immediately. This area isn't secure."
"What happened?" I demanded, trying to push past his bulky arm to get a look through the gap in the soldiers. "Is it an ambush? Is someone attacking the wall?"
"No, my lady," the guard said quickly, moving his body to try and block my view. "It's a wolf. A rogue, we think. It just collapsed right near the perimeter. It must have dragged itself past the outer boundary line before our sensors even caught its scent. It's heavily injured, covered in blood, and we don't know where it came from or who it belongs to."
I leaned heavily around his broad shoulder, and the moment I saw what was on the ground, the breath was completely knocked out of my lungs.
Lying in the stained, red-streaked snow was a massive wolf. Its fur was a ragged, muddy gray color, but it was almost entirely matted down with thick, dark blood. Deep, jagged claw marks tore across its sides, and its breathing was so shallow I could barely see its ribs moving at all. It was completely unconscious, trembling violently from the freezing cold and the sheer amount of blood it had lost.
"Move back," the lead guard commanded his men, keeping his sword leveled straight at the creature's throat. "We need to check it for weapons or tags before it shifts back into human form. Flip it over carefully so we can see the rest of the damage."
Two big warriors stepped forward, keeping their shields up as they reached down and roughly grabbed the wolf by its heavy shoulders, rolling its limp body onto its back.
The moment the wolf was turned over, the wind shifted direction. It blew a gust of air straight from the clearing toward me, carrying the wolf's scent right to my nose.
It was a very faint, fading scent, but it was instantly, terrifyingly familiar. It smelled like wild sweetgrass and fresh morning rain.
My eyes widened in absolute shock. My knees went weak, and a sharp gasp tore from my throat.
"Stop!" I screamed, shoving past the guards with a sudden strength that surprised everyone. I threw myself forward and fell straight to my knees in the freezing, bloody snow right beside the dying animal.
The wolf let out a low, agonizing groan as the sudden movement jolted its broken body. Slowly, the thick gray fur began to recede, melting away into pale, blood-soaked human skin as the wolf lost the remaining strength to hold its beast form. The bones cracked softly, shifting back into place.
Within seconds, the giant wolf was gone. In its place lay a young woman. Her face was completely covered in dark purple bruises, her lips were blue from the cold, and her clothes were torn to absolute shreds.
 Tears immediately blurred my vision, burning hot against my freezing cheeks.
It was Maya.
She was covered in fresh, angry whip marks, and her wrists were raw and bleeding from heavy iron shackles that had dug deep into her skin. She had clearly been tortured, her body broken in ways that made my stomach twist in pure nausea. 
"Maya," I choked out, a sob tearing from my throat as I gently cupped her bruised, freezing cheek with my hands. "Maya, please. Please open your eyes. It's me. I'm right here."
Her long eyelashes fluttered weakly, and she slowly, painfully forced her eyes open. 
"Z-Zaria..." she whispered, her voice a broken, raspy thread that I could barely hear over the wind. Blood welled up at the corner of her mouth as she tried to catch her breath. She reached up with a trembling, bloody hand, her fingers weakly gripping the fabric of my dress.
"You're... you're really alive..."
"I'm alive. I'm right here," I cried, holding her freezing hand tightly against my chest. 
"Garrick..." Maya gasped out, her grip suddenly tightening on my dress with a final, desperate burst of strength that shook her whole body. Her eyes went wide with pure terror as she stared up into mine. "He knows, Zaria... he knows the truth about the ceremony now. Cynthia... she's going to kill everyone to hide her tracks. You have to... you have to stop her..."
Before she could finish the sentence, her eyes rolled back into her head. Her hand went completely limp, dropping out of my grip, and she fell unconscious into the cold, red snow.