Chapter 22 #3
Anu opened the door and gestured for Selene to enter. When she stepped into the room, the wolves once again followed. The wood sprite left the door ajar but walked away without a word.
Fenris Hall’s study was what Selene would have described as a small library, which left her wondering what the actual library in the manor looked like, presuming there was one.
Two of the room’s walls featured built-in bookshelves that stretched from the floor to the high ceiling.
Many of the shelves could only be accessed by a rolling ladder.
The study was spacious, furnished with a solid oak desk that looked like it had been crafted around the time Henry VIII was king.
Chairs and settees that lent themselves to reading made up the other furniture along with attendant tables.
A cluster of said pieces were arranged in front of a stone fireplace large enough for Selene to stand in; the hearth took up most of the wall opposite the entrance and was framed by two tall mullioned windows.
Fen stood in front of the fireplace, his back to her and his body outlined by leaping flames. His head turned slightly, revealing his strong profile.
“Thank you, Gabriel, Ewan. You may leave us.” After he spoke, he stared into the fire once more.
The wolves slipped away, and the study door closed.
When Fen didn’t speak, Selene slowly crossed the room toward the fireplace.
Only when she was standing beside him did he address her. Even then, he didn’t look at her.
“You should be resting.”
Selene had expected that when she confronted Fenris, her temper would boil over. Instead, she felt sad and exhausted.
“Do you think I can rest when I know what’s happened to Natalie?”
He finally turned, his gaze searching hers, but his expression was shuttered, making it impossible to discern what he was feeling. “No. I don’t suppose you can.”
“I don’t want to believe what I’ve been told, Fenris,” she said quietly. “I won’t believe it.”
“And what have you been told?” His face continued to reveal nothing.
Selene took a step closer and watched his chest rise with a quick intake of breath.
So he isn’t completely unaffected by my arrival. That’s something. Not only could it make a difference to Natalie, but it also assuaged the sting of the distance he’d put between them.
“That Natalie’s actions have led to her arrest,” Selene said. “And that you plan to execute her.”
“All of that is true.” There was no hesitation in his reply. He’d closed himself off again.
“No!” Selene’s composure shattered. “You can’t be serious, Fen. You’re going to kill Natalie?”
“Natalie Lyon broke a law that carried stark consequences. She knew the risk.” Though he kept his voice flat as he spoke, Selene knew the unbearable weight of grief he carried was tied to the law Natalie had broken. Only such a deep, festering wound would drive him to this merciless end.
“Rather than cease her activities or move them elsewhere,” Fen continued, “she chose to traffic in illegal weapons, flaunting my decree. It is a dire offense that cannot be ignored.”
“I know you believe you have to take a hard line on this,” she said, trying to reach the man behind the ruler, “but I’m begging you to listen to me.”
She caught a flicker in his gray eyes. A spark of feeling.
“I will always listen to you, Selene,” he said softly. “That doesn’t mean I’m able to give you what you want.”
Seizing on that tiny admission, Selene pressed on.
“Yes, Natalie continued to break the law, but that in itself should prove how important she believes her work is. Fen, she only sells the weapons to people who’ve been abused by paranormals.
She helps them escape and provides sanctuary when they have no one else to turn to. ”
“I don’t deny what you’re saying.” Fen frowned. “But the presence of such weapons in Avondale presents a direct threat to my pack, whom I’ve sworn to protect above all else.”
“Do you have any evidence that a single member of your pack or anyone else in Avondale has been harmed by Natalie’s work?” Selene pressed.
“No,” Fen replied. “But it’s only a matter of time before one or more of those weapons falls into the hands of bounty hunters. And that is unacceptable.”
“Natalie doesn’t sell to bounty hunters,” Selene argued. “Under any circumstances. If a bounty hunter contacts her, she takes steps to ensure their name reaches you.”
He grimaced. “She’s said as much. My guard are running down the names she offered against our own list of hunters we’ve taken out after receiving anonymous tips.”
“And if she’s telling the truth?”
“Then she has my gratitude,” he answered. “But it changes nothing.”
Selene wrapped her arms around herself as icy despair filled the space beneath her ribs. “I don’t understand. How can you be so unfeeling?”
“Selene.” Fen took her face in his hands, and there it was. Blazing in his eyes, hotter than the flames beside them. His love for her. His need. “I am resolved. Not heartless. Natalie is a good person, and this is a tragedy.”
Her eyes stung, her vision blurred, and tears began to roll down her cheeks. “She’s my friend.”
“I know, and it grieves me.” He bent and kissed the salt tracks on her skin. “I am loath to cause you pain.”
She turned her face and caught his mouth against hers briefly. Though she longed to sink into his warmth, his taste, she pulled back.
“Then don’t.” She looked into his eyes, desperate. “Stop this, Fenris.”
“I can’t.” He shut down, hands dropping to his sides, all the emotion he’d revealed gone.
“Yes, you can,” she insisted. “The law isn’t just. What good is it being the ruler of Avondale if you can’t make an exception in a case like Natalie’s? She doesn’t deserve this.”
His lip curled back, the first sign of anger he’d shown since she arrived. “It doesn’t fall to you to decide whether our laws are just. Nor can you grasp the magnitude of what she’s done.”
“I know this law exists because of the horror you went through,” Selene said, daring to broach the unnamed source of this conflict, hating that she was about to open a deep wound in Fen’s heart. “I know it was born out of grief. But killing Natalie doesn’t right the wrong of Miriam’s death.”
Fen spun away from her, stalking toward his desk. He braced himself against it, gripping the edge so hard, the wood creaked.
“Miriam wasn’t the only wolf murdered that day,” he growled.
“My entire pack suffered an irreparable loss. It was and remains my responsibility to make certain that never happens again. I did not establish the ban on bounty hunter weapons without the explicit support of my people. And while it falls to me to enforce it, I did not create this law alone. You speak as if only my feelings were at stake, but I made a promise to my pack. I am nothing if I can’t protect them.
To set aside the law because I would prefer to would betray everything I have worked for. ”
And there was the key to everything: Fen’s loyalty to Avondale, to his people.
Selene admired that quality. Without it, he couldn’t be the leader the town needed, but she believed that in this instance it would be his downfall.
If he went through with Natalie’s execution, even with the certainty that there was no alternative, he would ultimately regret his choice.
And guilt would destroy him. Selene had come to the manor tonight not only to save her friend, but also to save Fenris from himself.
Selene approached him slowly. “What happened to your pack was unthinkable. I understand why the law exists, but—”
“Stop.” He whipped around, his eyes dark with pain. “I’m sorry, Selene. I truly am.”
“Fenris.” She reached for him.
“The law stands.” His words fell like a gavel, and she froze. “Natalie’s life is forfeit. There’s nothing else to say.”
Selene stood there, disbelief pummeling her, but there was no mistaking the finality of Fen’s voice, nor the hard set of his features. They stared at each other, Selene silently begging that he show the tiniest crack in his resolve. But Fen was immovable as a fortress.
“Actually”—she took a ragged breath, tears threatening—“there is one more thing to say.”
He watched her, waiting.
“You saved my life tonight, Fenris,” she said. “But Natalie saved me first.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked roughly. As she’d hoped, she’d caught him off guard. She didn’t like forcing his hand by revealing his vulnerabilities, but she was going to play every card she held. That meant making Fen aware of facts he wouldn’t want to face.
“Tonight wasn’t the first time Daniel attacked me,” she told him. “He caught me alone one evening in Avondale.”
Fen had gone rigid again, but his eyes were wild, roiling with fury.
“He wanted to seduce me,” Selene continued, keeping her tone even. “When that failed, he used his magic to compel me. It was working, but I broke free. And I drove him off.”
A deep, rumbling snarl emerged from Fen’s chest. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think I had to,” she replied. “I thought it was over because I beat him that night.
And the only reason I was able to do that was because of Natalie.
She gave me a silver cross and told me to carry it at all times.
I listened. When Daniel tried to compel me again, I used the cross to burn him and drive him away.
“That cross saved my life, Fenris.” Selene didn’t flinch, even when she heard Fen’s claws dig in to the edge of the desk. “If Natalie hadn’t given it to me, I would belong to Daniel.”
“Never.” Fen was breathing hard. “I would have torn his heart from his chest before I let that happen.”
“I know you would have,” she said. “I saw you rip his head off to save me. But that other night, you weren’t there. I needed a way to save myself. Natalie gave it to me.”
His eyes closed. “You should not have kept this from me.”
“I’m telling you now.”
Fen’s shoulders tightened, then he let out a long, weary sigh. When he opened his eyes and met her gaze, ice-covered brambles twisted around her heart.
“It’s too late.”