340 Remember When

LERRIN

Lerrin had swallowed the clinch of fear that struck him at the vicious expression on his father's face and shaken his head. "No, Dad, we can't take the Queen like that. You'll just martyr her then, and make Reth a figure of sympathy as well as strength. We have to take her head-on. Challenge her. Prove to the tribes how weak she is—and that her weakness weakens him! If we take her out, it makes us the villains and everyone else will see him as even more of a hero."

Eyes dark, his father's lip had curled away from his teeth. Lerrin knew—because he'd heard his father rant about it—that he was once again cursing himself for being the one who brought the human Queen into Anima.

A year earlier, when the Rite of Survival had been called by the people and King Reth was forced to take a Queen, Lucine had been chosen by the wolf tribe as their Sacrifice. But it was tradition for the humans to contribute a Sacrifice also.