Chapter Eleven
D arkness.
Tendrils of shadow wind up my legs and coil around my arms.
I cannot breathe. I cannot see. I cannot...
My eyes adjust. Cold stale air floods my lungs. A corridor stretches into the distance, lined with doors. I approach one of them, and touch the symbol carved into smooth stone above the lock. It’s a key with two crescent moons in the bow. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It’s the same mark that I saw in the chapel.
Something moves behind the door, and I jump back.
Distant footsteps approach, and I turn my head. Someone whistles. The tune is familiar but off-key, and I cannot place it. Fear grips my heart. Every instinct in my body tells me to run.
I edge away from that sound.
I run.
I must be dreaming, but I cannot shake the feeling that if I’m caught, there will be consequences.
“Where are you going, little soul?” A male voice echoes around me, and my blood turns to ice. There is something cold and powerful in his tone, inhuman. “You have found me, when many cannot, and yet you run.”
I turn to the nearest door, and try to push it open. It won’t move. I shove my shoulder against it so hard I think I bruise the skin. I suppress my cry of frustration as laughter resounds all around me. I fight the cold panic that threatens to debilitate me. I hurl myself at the door again.
“ Please ,” I whisper. “Please open.”
The scent of dark pine crashes into me as someone else throws themself against the door at the same time as me. It crashes open.
An arm hooks around my waist as we hurtle into darkness.
I jolt into my body—only I’m made of stone. I cannot move. I’m a statue in the palace gardens. I’ve been here before. I’m dreaming. I try to scream, but my lungs are stone and my lips are hard and my mouth tastes like old cemeteries.
Courtiers wander around in the moonlight. They comment on the neatly trimmed hedges, and the smell of the roses. Some of them look up at me.
“She almost looks alive,” says a woman , before she and her friend walk away.
Blake saunters into view with his hands in the pockets of his breeches.
“Fascinating,” he says.
Get out! I want to scream. Get out! Get out! Get out!
I’m paralyzed, powerless, trapped in this stone cage.
His eyes glint in the moonlight.
“When are you going to fight?” he asks.
***
I wake in the middle of the night.
I feel a strange pull toward the corridor, as if something I need is outside our chambers. I untangle myself from Callum, slip on a robe, and pad through the shadows. I open the door a crack. I breathe in sharply. Blake stands by the wall, at one with the shadows. His hair is messy, and his shirt is only half buttoned up. His bootlaces are undone, too. He puts a finger on his lips.
He reaches into the pocket of his breeches and pulls out a small pot. “Apply this to your wound.”
The word Moonflower is written in elegant calligraphy across the label.
“My wound? The bite you gave me, you mean?”
He shrugs. “With any luck, it will fade the scar.”
Fade , I note. Not get rid of entirely.
I snatch it, then turn and close the door behind me.
***
Callum’s mood is lighter when we wake up early in the morning. He faces me on the bed, a marking from a pillow crease on one side of his face, and brushes his knuckles along my arm. The sky is still dark outside the window when he tells me he intends to ride to a nearby territory. His friend has just taken over a clan, and he thinks he can talk him into joining us.
“Should I come with you?” I ask.
He brushes his lips against my forehead. “No. Stay here. Get some more sleep, then read your books and see if you can find anything out about your connection with Blake. That would be a better use of time.”
“Okay. There’s a whole section in the library about...” I stiffen, then frown. There’s something in Callum’s tone, and the slight glint in his eye, that reminds me of the times he has given Ryan a task to do that makes the boy feel important, but ultimately serves to keep him out of the way. “You don’t want me to come with you, do you?”
The corners of his eyes crinkle. “No. I don’t. Not after James’s visit last night. I don’t want to spend all day worrying about you. I want you to stay at Lowfell, where you’ll be safe.”
I sigh. “It probably is a better use of my time, anyway. It’s not long before the full moon. I want to figure out how to break this bond before we get to Madadh-allaidh, so Blake can’t use it against you after we’ve defeated James.”
Callum plants a kiss on my lips. “Good lass.”
He stretches, then rolls out of bed. Naked, he heads over to the armchair to grab his kilt and shirt, and gets dressed. While he’s tying his boots, I slide out from beneath the covers and pull on a dress from the armoire. I turn so he can do the fastenings on my back.
“I’m supposed to be a fearsome alpha, not your lady-in-waiting,” he says.
“You poor thing. What will all the other alphas think?”
“They will mock me, and I won’t care.” I hear the grin in his voice. “Though, I must admit, I prefer taking your clothes off to putting them on.”
He hooks an arm around my torso, and pulls me into his lap before nipping my ear with his teeth and making a playful growling sound. I stroke his cheek.
“You’ll make a better king than James,” I say.
“I hope so. We’ve been at war with the Southlands for so long, and James is obsessed with vengeance. I cannot forgive the southerners for what they have done to my people, yet I wonder if there could be peace someday. You’re the Princess of the Southlands, and I would be King of the Northlands. I wonder if you and I could bring peace.” His tone is earnest and sincere, yet cold panic flickers in my chest.
He’s not saying it aloud, but I know he’s suggesting a marriage alliance between us. It’s the kind of match I would have never let myself dream of before coming to the Northlands. Not because it’s with a wolf, although I certainly wouldn’t have imagined that, but because it’s with someone I care for. I always knew I would marry for politics rather than emotion—it’s part of the reason why I locked up my feelings for so many years. The thought of having both would have made my heart soar, once.
I don’t feel that way, now. For our kingdoms to be united, Callum would have to strike an agreement with my father—the man who had me beaten by the High Priest, and who killed my mother.
Callum must hear my quickening pulse, because the humor disappears from his face. “A fantasy, perhaps.” Nudging me off him, he stands. He takes my face in both of his hands. “Listen to me, Princess, because it’s important. Whether we like it or not, Blake is your alpha now—”
“Don’t be silly. Of course he’s not.”
“It’s not up to you, or me, to decide. It’s Ghealach ’s decision, and if she accepts Blake’s claim...” He bites his bottom lip. “An alpha can put the power of their wolf into their command. Their dominance forces other Wolves in their clan to submit, and to obey their alpha’s will.”
My eyes widen. “That’s abhorrent.”
“Aye, it is. The command is called the àithne. It’s not a practice that is widely used. If an alpha uses it, and someone in their clan resists, it calls into question who the stronger wolf is, which can lead to a challenge. If Blake has been accepted as your alpha...”
My muscles tighten. “He could do that to me. How will I know for sure if Blake is my alpha?”
He runs his thumb over my shoulder, where Blake’s bite mars my skin. It’s still sore, even after I put some of Blake’s ointment on it. “I’m almost certain he is. As Wolves, we heal quicker, and better, than humans. But if any kind of claim is accepted by our goddess, the bite doesn’t heal. We’ll know if the mark remains. Either that, or Blake will use the àithne, and you’ll be forced to submit to him. I don’t think he’ll stoop so low until we take Madadh-allaidh. He needs us on side for his plan to succeed, but I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“Good lass.” Callum offers me a smile that doesn’t quite meet his eyes. He brushes his lips against my forehead and heads out of our chambers—leaving me alone at Lowfell Castle.
While he’s away, I’m determined to get some answers. I need to find out how to break this bond between Blake and me. Our lives are connected—he bit me and claims he’s my alpha, and I’m even dreaming of him.
I must break all ties with Blake, before he consumes me completely.