Chapter 43
Eidan
Several hours earlier
The gong signaling the ceremony was about to start reverberated through the temple, and Darion finished dressing and left.
Eidan watched everyone file out of the room and followed them to find Reinn standing in the hallway.
The Ironcoat waited until the rest had passed before falling into step beside him.
There were no words left to say, for they had already been said.
His memories of Fern’s despair still plagued him, his fury fueling and punctuating each dark thought.
His father had said Darion would get one chance with Fern, and yet had allowed him to fail her over and over again. How could everyone sit back and watch Darion treat her so cruelly, cause her such suffering, and still give her to him like a reward he didn’t even want?
She deserved so much better.
Reinn wanted it to be them. Had shown him the old texts and accounts of packs of alphas all dedicated to a single omega.
Eidan knew wolfkin would sometimes share a mate or Naravekh, but had never considered the practice for himself, believing he would be too possessive, too jealous an alpha to want to see another wolfkin with the she-wolf he loved.
But then he discovered that watching Reinn with her did not stir those feelings at all.
When she smiled at his jokes and flirtations, it made him smile in turn to see her happy.
To know that Reinn could be there when he couldn’t, could see things he was blind to.
Could protect her from enemies he had no knowledge of.
And then one night after the meeting at Hearth Hall, deep in their cups and alone in his room, Reinn suggested something so outlandish, he had pretended not to hear it. For even speaking of such a transgression against his clan would be cause for execution.
“We should take her.”
Eidan had waved him off, staring at the fire as he lamented Fern’s situation—claimed by an alpha who inexplicably did not want her. It was like watching a beautiful flower slowly wilt before his eyes, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“I’m serious.”
“You can’t be. My brother would have every right to kill you for it.”
Reinn snorted. “As if he’d be bothered enough to look for her.”
“She tried to run once, remember?”
“Of course I remember!” he snapped. “I was there the night he sentenced her to her worst nightmare.”
And Eidan had been there to keep her from breaking entirely.
He would never tell this to Fern, but that week sleeping outside with her in his arms had been the best of his life.
Nothing had happened aside from just holding her, shushing her, and purring until she fell asleep, but it was more than enough for him.
He’d thought that would be the worst punishment she could receive, but then his brother kept surprising him.
Last week, he’d gone to her hallway after hearing her heat had started and that Darion had found some miserable excuse not to tend her. The gravity of her misery and grief was so potent he’d nearly stumbled.
And then he saw her guard smash his face into the wall so he might better protect her.
Wolfkin were half-blind without their noses, and still the clan sacrificed theirs for an omega they hardly knew, while the alpha who claimed her was busy bedding another she-wolf.
And then when he went to her anyway—forced to by duty—her screams echoed through the castle and made it impossible for him to sleep or even think.
Most of the alphas assumed they were made in passion, but Eidan knew her well enough to hear the despair. He could smell the salt of her tears mixed with her heady perfume.
So when Reinn broached the subject again, Eidan was ready with his reply.
“Aye.”
Once spoken aloud, the idea had poisoned them both.
Every punishment Fern suffered, added up like numbers in a ledger, only made it seem less like treason and more like mercy for both Fern and his brother.
Darion didn’t truly want Fern, and removing her from the clan seemed like the best way to help Darion clear his mind before taking over for their father.
The plan was simple enough—take Fern and run. They had bags packed and ready. Reinn had found the perfect route that brought them close enough to Bloodmoon lands so that any group led by Darion in pursuit would be met by force.
Two alphas and a single she-wolf were too small a party to merit pursuit, though, and they could skirt the borders freely until finally arriving on the Westernmost shores.
Then they would hire a boat to take them anywhere without worry of being found, for no wolfkin nose was good enough to follow them over water.
It was just a matter of finding the perfect time.