Chapter 2 THE KING'S CHOOSE MATE
late, and he despis
cks in the council table, and ink still stained two of his fingers. His mother had caught him in the cor
litics. Lady Cassandra Wolfe's family had spent months making sure the right people knew her lineage. He expect
at the court respected two things, certainty and fear, and that he could not afford to show it either of its opposites. To
d open t
all wa
at their throats, and nobody was whispering. That silence frightened him more than the color did. At the center of the floor, bel
struck
s ribs and drawn it tight. His wolf, silent for weeks, slam
i
with a belt, and he had learned it well. But his fist closed at his side until the signet ri
a felt him bef
cloth tearing. Beneath her ribs, in a place that had been hollow her whole life, so
The small lit window fl
he locked them. She
wind moved. The blue flames bent toward her, all of
e tur
is collar. A silver crown that looked less like jewelry than a verdict. He stopped s
is expression
s stepped back and the king stepped forward. Her stomach dropped the wa
word. "The Moon has spoken. Seraphina Vale
hing. Then the whisp
Vale
s no
t be a m
omething that made his companion wince. Near the front, Cassandra Wolfe stood with her golden head very still and her face d
hand. Rowan, near the pillars, had closed his eyes like a man bracing for a blow. Neither of
reach toward a skittish animal, or toward something you had wanted so l
er hand. Not a
step
n. A muscle jumped in his jaw, and his knuckles whitened against his thigh. He did not look aw
led. He heard it. He ignor
dered. For the first time in his life his own body refused to obey him. He pressed hi
said. His voice reached every corner of the h
and flooded her face. Her ears rang loudly now. Her palms had gone slick, and the silk at her wri
ad spent nineteen years learning to take a blow without making a sound, and still
way a breath stops when a door slams. Something that had jus
ifted his
I will not take a woman wi
something heard h
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