I had never seen a dead body before, except Seb. I remembered that day as if it were yesterday. We had been walking in the woods, looking for blackberries and likely places to play. And he was nineteen years old, a fully-fledged member of the Moon Guard, while I was an eleven-year-old kid who hadn't even learnt to control her shift. So it was no surprise that he was the one to notice the scent of strange werewolves in the air.

In hindsight, Seb must have known who they were, because he realised that he was going to die in that moment. And his only concern was getting me to safety.

"Hey, Sav," he had said and knelt down to my height. "We're going to play a game, okay?"

"Is it the one with the cat and the wolf?" I had asked, full of excitement.

"No," Seb had said. "We're going to play hide and seek, but for serious. You run back to the house and find a place to hide, and don't come out, not for anything."

My parents were away, else he could have told me to find them. They were visiting our grandparents, who were very ill. It had always agonised me, knowing that if they had been home, we might not have been in the woods that day.

Then, with all the frustration of a child who understood what was going on but was expected not to, my eyes had filled with tears. "I'm scared."

"It's okay to be scared, beause you're going to be brave, Sav. Run home, and don't you dare look back," he told me.

"Why aren't you coming?" I demanded. He knew they wouldn't tolerate witnesses, and that getting me away from him was the only way to save my life. I knew none of that at the time. It was only when Nate had told me the murder wasn't random that I realised exactly what he had sacrificed for me -- his only chance at getting away.

"I'll be right behind you," Seb had promised, but it was a lie. Even an eleven-year-old could realise that. He wrapped me in a last hug. When he finally pulled away and gave me a gentle push in the direction of the house, a trickle of water glistened on his own cheek. Seb was braver than I would ever be, so it wasn't the dying that bothered him, I don't think. It was leaving me alone.

I ran, just as he had told me. I always listened to Seb, more than I had ever heeded my parents. But there was a particular part of the order I failed to follow that day, to my unending regret. Just before the trees obscured him from sight, I looked back.

There were four masked people surrounding my cousin. All of them were tall and strong; there was no hope of Seb fighting his way out, so he didn't even try. He squared his shoulders and said something to their leader. Although I couldn't hear the words, there was only sadness on his face. No anger, no defiance. Simply grief.

My lips parted to scream when the leader stabbed him, but no sound came out. Seb took the knife to his stomach, then the next and the next after that. Each of the four had their turn, and only when the fourth knife tore through his lung did my cousin finally fall to his knees. He saw me through the trees as he took his final breath, his eyes so full of apology. There were no last words or eulogy, but if I was feeling particularly fanciful, he may have mouthed, I love you.

It was that stream of painful memories which came rushing back when I saw the dead boy in the Winterusk forest. He was stone cold, frozen in death. Someone had closed his eyes though, perhaps the person who found him. No one had closed Seb's. When I crept back to sit next to his body after the attackers had gone, his hazel eyes had been open and staring into nothingness.

Kai's expression was exactly how I imagined my own to look in that moment. Whether or not he was drowning in his own memories wasn't questionable. I didn't know much about the king's assassination, except that it hadn't been quick.

"So I don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to know what killed this poor bastard," Alex sighed.

He was right. The gaping hole in the boy's back would have been a clue on its own. And then there was the small matter of his missing foot. A fight must have gone down in wolf form overnight. Though judging from the size of the tooth marks, it could well have been a Shadowcat.

"How old, do you think?" Becky asked. She sounded a mixture of disgusted and angry. I wasn't sure that I wanted to ask if she had known him.

"He's seventeen," Ben replied without hesitation. "We have a positive ID already. Isaac Wynhold."

I took another look at the body and swore under my breath. "He tried out for the Moon Guard, didn't he?"

Kai nodded. "Left on the first day. A good kid, but he's a long way from home. What was a Wynhold boy doing in Winterusk territory?"

"Nothing sensible," I suggested. Those two families were to sworn to Houses Llewellyn and Rochester respectively. If they were squabbling, it could be just a symptom of a much larger problem.

Ben crouched to examine the dead boy's fingernails, and I did my best not to cringe away. Dealing with corpses was not a normal teenage activity. The boys seemed disturbingly okay with it, for the large part. Becky wasn't afraid to get hands on either, but she didn't think anyone was looking, I could see the reluctance. It was like we were all daring each other to be brave.

"Defensive wounds," the Lindwell boy decided. "If he was shifted when the fight went down, his attackers must be looking a bit worse for wear."

That gave me a few ideas. What if he wasn't the only victim? So while Ben and Becky completed their examination and lifted the boy into a body bag, I went for a stroll around the woods. It wasn't difficult to follow the scent of blood to a clearing.

This was where the fight had happened. The ground was torn up with gouges and footprints, all of which were decidedly canine. So maybe there hadn't been any Shadowcats after all. The boy must have crawled or been carried to where we found him. If it was the latter, why move the body a hundred paces? What did it achieve?

But no second victim. Everyone else involved must have been licking their wounds. We had a brief window to find the combatants before their injuries healed completely.

When I knelt down to take measurements of a paw print, I felt a familiar presence at my shoulder. Kai must have followed me, in accordance with the first rule of patrol. Briefings were always full of don't go off on your own. Don't get separated from the others. Solo is a no-go. Okay, so the last one was made-up. Sue me.

"Sav? Is everything okay?"

I brushed my hands off on my trousers and turned. "Yeah. Of course."

Kai caught my arm as I went to walk past him. "You know why we're being sent into Shadowcat territory, don't you?"

It had been on everyone's minds since the briefing. It was hard to think about it, when we could so easily die tomorrow.

"And what in hell would make you think that?" He was right of course, but that didn't mean I had to admit it. I gently pried his hand off my jacket in case I needed to make a quick escape.

"You didn't look the least bit surprised about it and you've been staring off into space all morning, not even to mention your nightly escapade. I'm patrol leader, Sav, and a prince. I could order you to tell me." Kaeden said the last bit very quietly.

I scowled at him. "You won't."

"I won't," he agreed. "But I should. This is bigger than just you and me. The others are in danger as well."

"Well you didn't look surprised either," I realised. "You did a better job pretending, but you still weren't surprised."

"I know Peyton wants me dead, if that's what you're wondering. And I know he's willing to sacrifice an entire patrol to do it. He's going about it the right way too-most Shadowcats don't give a damn that I'm related to them. They don't operate as a pack. But there's still a hierarchy, and Peyton doesn't know you've got the Shadowcat heir twisted around your little finger."

"I have not-" I fumed. Kai just raised an eyebrow, and I nodded reluctantly. "We're friends, that's all. At least, I think we are. It's hard to tell with him."

He nodded as well, and for a while we just stared at each other, searching for the words. Finally, Kai sighed. "What's wrong, Sav?"

And it was as if a dam had been broken. The words came rushing out in an unstoppable torrent. "I just don't have a clue anymore. I'm in the Moon Guard, so I should be listening to Peyton, but somehow I always end up following you and Nate instead. It's a choice between friends and duty, and I know which one I should choose, but I do the opposite anyway."

"Woah, slow down," Kai said. "I never meant to make you chose. Not ever. That's not fair on you."

"I'm not blaming you. I chose to choose, if that makes any sense. And you know what? Screw duty. They make sure we can't get into the Guard without friends, so why the hell shouldn't I side with you?" I drew in a deep breath, then looked him in the eyes. "Wyatt Rochester's murdering your mother. I don't know how, but he is. Maybe it's poison. And I sold my soul to the devil, by the way."

"You what?"

"Well, it wasn't the devil, actually. It was Nate-fricking-Silveryn, which isn't all that different."

Kai rolled his eyes. His patience with my internal dilemma seemed endless until then. He took a step closer. "Stop exaggerating. He's not that bad. What did you promise him?"

His calm about the whole situation was infectious. I found myself relaxing despite everything. "Information. I need to talk to my mother to get it, though."

"That can be arranged," he promised. "We can talk to her tonight. But in the meantime, we have a murderer to catch. Can you concentrate on this? You're the smartest person here-we kinda need you to carry the team."

"Yes. You have my complete focus," I said, just because I was flattered.

We returned to the others, and from there we went to the local werewolf settlement. If a fugitive was seeking shelter, it was the obvious place to go.

The village was as picturesque as physically possible. A dozen houses with thatched rooves and roses growing up the walls, lay nestled in a valley beside a lake. Most of these people made their living from farming, but today there were no animals grazing in the open. At the sight of our approach, despite the Moon Guard uniforms, children were ushered into houses and a rough militia of young men and women formed. They didn't need to arm themselves to show their intentions, which were entirely threatening, of course.

Their leader, a tall girl in her twenties, stepped away from her friends to scowl at us. "Whatcha want?"

"Just to talk," Kai said, showing his palms to placate her. We couldn't fight all of them. "You're aware that we found a body not far from here? This is now a murder investigation."

"What, and you think we did it?"

"No-I'm sure you didn't. But we need to ask a few questions all the same," he explained. It was only half a lie. They were our only suspects at the moment.

She folded her arms. "And why should we answer? It's naught to do with us."

Becky stepped forwards, unceremoniously pushing her boss out of the way. She snapped, "That remains to be seen. If you've got nothing to hide, you'll have no problem answering a few questions. Now get the hell out of our way. We're Moon Guard, and last time I checked, this is our jurisdiction. You want to be arrested for inhibiting an investigation?"

The girl smiled and shook her head. She marched forwards, so close to my friend that they were almost touching. For a moment, I thought she was going to start a fight, until she winked and moved aside. The militia followed her example.

"Of course not. Although if you want to handcuff me, all you have to do is ask."

There was an appreciative glint in her eyes when she looked at Becky, who was returning the look with interest.

Oh Goddess, they were flirting, weren't they? Or rather, the militia girl was. I had no idea if Becky approved of such a display of PDA, but it was Becky, so it seemed likely.

"Well when you put it like that," Becky drawled, confirming my suspicions. "Come find me later."

Then we were allowed access to the village, albeit grudgingly.

The locals were unfortunately Winterusk, which meant they were fully Team Rochester and didn't really appreciate a Davengard-Llewellyn prince on their turf. I received my fair share of glares as well, thanks to the pale hair which marked me as a Fairborne. But they liked Becky well enough-her family neighboured this territory.

When we were out of earshot of the villagers, Kai threw Becky a look I didn't envy. "Tactful, Rebecca. Shout at them, why don't you?"

"It worked, didn't it? You're too nice for your own good, Kaeden. Sometimes you have to remind people that you can be an asshole too."

"I personally saw more flirting than asshole-like behaviour," I piped up. "Help me out here; I'm a little lost. Didn't you like guys last week? Not that I have a problem if that's changed, of course. Just wondering."

She flipped her hair and smirked. "I don't play for either side, Sav. Why choose between the genders, when you can have them both?"

"Alrighty then," Ben muttered sarcastically. "Now Becky's out of the closet, can we please do our job?"

Alex coughed back a laugh. "Yes, yes. Come along, Watson. We'll take the south side. You three Musketeers can keep going."

"Why am I the sidekick?" Ben demanded, but he was dragged away before he was given a satisfactory answer.

That left Becky, Kai and I standing in an awkward triangle. I shaded my eyes against the midday sun to peer at the row of cottages to my left. So suspiciously quiet and ordinary. If I was a murderer, I'd totally invest in one of those to-

Kai nudged my arm. "Erm ... Sav ... you might want to take a look..."

He gestured to a nearby bungalow, which had a startlingly white front door. And that lovely shade made it easy to see the red smear which besmirched it. It looked suspiciously like blood. Huh. Jackpot.