No Oath, No Mercy

Elska Ardnar was heir to the wolf court until a hawk lord burned it and dragged her out in a silver cage. She was supposed to die on the first morning. She is still here, chained in Caius Vorn's own hall, eating his food, learning his guards' names, and counting the days until his walls come down. Caius has one rule: never pity the enemy. He breaks it on day one and lies to himself every day after. She is not his prisoner. She is his problem, his debt, his slow, unforgivable undoing. When a rival lord comes for his seat, he expects her to smile and watch. Instead she walks into the enemy's line with his signet ring in her palm and his colours on her back, and the only thing she ever asked him for comes due. Chained, she was his hostage. Unchained, she is his whole damn army.