Chapter 47
Défendre
BASTIEN
I’d made Claire my wife.
My world.
Mine.
It was foolish to pursue this, to consummate our bond, but I couldn’t make myself regret it. The pull toward her so strong it was as if I was under a spell. Her spell. A spell I had no wish of breaking.
My grip on Lucien’s reins tightened as we continued to climb the treacherous path to the castle.
Chateau Rose reminded me that I couldn’t get lost in her completely.
I had to find a way to keep my wits about me.
Fully succumbing to the pull of our mate bond wasn’t an option. No matter how much I wanted to.
I was the Duke of Roselyn. I commanded the largest army. And war was coming to the Unified Territories. I could feel it. Imogen had told me as much. I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
My arm snaked around Claire’s shoulders, flattening her protectively against my chest as we climbed the last of the snow-slick rocks that led up to the main gate.
She’d fallen asleep some hours ago, and as loath as I was to wake her, I had to.
The hour was late and I feared there would be little rest for us once we arrived at home.
I pressed my lips to her cheek, which seared hot against my cold flesh. She was warmer than she should be. Something told me the dark magick that had awakened in her was the cause.
After her transformation, I had more questions that needed answering about who she really was, but now wasn’t the time. I had to focus on the task at hand.
“Claire,” I whispered.
She stirred, eyes fluttering open. So big and brown and wide, they were easy to get lost in.
She glanced around. “How long was I asleep?”
I gave her a half smile. “Not long enough.”
“What are we going to tell them?” she asked.
She didn’t need to explain the question further. I knew what she meant. And as difficult as it would be, there was only one answer.
“Nothing more than they need to know,” I replied.
Claire nodded with a mildly terrified look fixed in her brown eyes. My hand fell back to her waist. My palm pressing protectively against her stomach.
“What if they find out? What if they tell Prince Marius?” she asked. “What if—what if you get in trouble?” She drew in a shaky breath. “Bastien, I can’t lose you.”
I halted Lucien so I could take Claire’s face in both my hands. Pressing our foreheads together, I made her another vow.
“Nothing will take me away from you. Nothing. Not my brother. Not some law. Not anything. I swear it by all the gods. Do you understand?”
She nodded, and even though I could sense her hesitance, I kissed her hard. Claiming her mouth in a way that pledged my body and life to her. So long as I stood, it would be by her side.
I broke off the kiss, and the cold mountain air skated across my wet lips. How I’d explain this to my council and ask the impossible of them was a question I’d been contemplating the whole ride here. How did I reassure my people that I was still a competent ruler?
“I trust you,” she said.
Her belief in me filled me with the promise of hope, and I encouraged Lucien on, up the last of the rocks until the castle was in full view.
Once we were past the gates, my full council was braving the harsh weather, standing on the narrow steps ready to receive us.
Grim expressions on their faces. Natalia looked murderous.
My raven arrived ahead of us, explaining what transpired at Kemp Manor.
But what none could’ve anticipated were the two shaggy wolves that dogged Lucien’s heels.
The familiars had bonded themselves to Claire after she’d received her powers and they were nearly as fierce of protectors as I was.
These were no normal wolves. I could smell it. They were twice as big as any wolf I’d ever seen. If these were the breed of wolves that Alec had seen, then I could understand how he’d thought them werewolves.
Claire sucked in a sharp breath and gripped my forearm in pain, and guilt lanced through me. I didn’t need to ask what was wrong as she shifted uncomfortably in the saddle. My mate had been through so much in the last twenty-four hours. And I was to blame for nearly every ache that pained her.
As much as I wanted to allow Claire a bath and rest, I had to ask her to accompany me to the council meeting. The strained look on my second-in-command’s face showed that she was more than outraged by the Kemp attack; she was afraid for me.
They all bowed as we came to a halt and I dismounted. Grabbing Claire around the waist, I lifted her off Lucien’s back and set her carefully beside me. Then retrieved my cane from the saddlebag. She’d insisted on covering her hair with her cloak, but there was nothing to do to hide the wolves.
When my hand found Claire’s and I laced our fingers together. Unsurprisingly, Natalia glared back at us. Clearly shocked that I would make such a brazen move.
“Miss Donadieu has been injured,” I explained. “She needs to lean on me.”
Together, hand in hand with her wolves trailing behind, we climbed the stairs and made our way to the council chamber. None questioned why I was leading my sanguine partner inside, nor did they question why I seated her at the place of honor, directly to my right, where Natalia usually sat.
I could hear her teeth grinding as I pulled out her usual chair for a very nervous looking Claire. I offered my second-in-command the chair to my left, which forced everyone to rearrange their usual spots.
I cared not as they bumbled about the room, arguing over who should sit where now. Once we were all settled and the door to the council room closed, I set my cane down on the carved wood table in front of me. My gaze sharply trailing the room.
“Your raven was scant. What happened, Your Grace?” Laurent asked.
I was not a man to dance around the truth or mince words, and I knew neither would sit well with the leaders of Roselyn. They were a tough people, who lived and labored in the northern mountains.
“The funeral ritual didn’t go as Hera anticipated, and Temperance’s magick went to Miss Donadieu.”
The room went silent. Natalia’s nostrils flared. I looked to Claire, noting how the color raced from her cheeks.
“Why didn’t tell us you were a Witch of the Darkness?” Natalia said.
“She obviously didn’t know,” I shot back, answering for Claire.“What’s important is after she received the magick, Hera disavowed the protection of the Blood Treaty then tried to kill her. And me.”
More silence. Footsteps approached just outside the door, and when it creaked open, my nephew breezed inside. I’d nearly forgotten about his smug and unwelcome presence. A sign of just how entranced I was by Claire. Because he was a very important piece of this tenuous puzzle.
“Sorry I’m late, Uncle,” Tyson said casually, shutting the door behind him. Running a hand through his coal black hair. Then he cut a hard look at Natalia. “I wasn’t informed there was an emergency council meeting.”
Natalia scooted her chair back, the screeching sound ringing through the room, then stood.
“I thought you didn’t want to be bothered when you were playing Dépouiller with your consorts.”
At mention of the card game that had caused me to find Claire half naked and drunk, I felt the change happen.
My fangs lengthened, and thirst burned in the back of my throat.
My vision tinted red. He’d seen my mate in a compromising way.
He’d fed her alcohol. Got her drunk. Defied my orders.
He didn’t deserve to draw air in her presence.
I nearly lost hold of every restraint keeping me from slaying my kin when I felt Claire’s hand on mine. The gentle pressure and the warmth drawing my attention to her face. Her beautiful face. She was everything all at once.
“Your Grace?” she whispered.
The sound of her voice gave me something else to focus on besides blind rage. Opening our connection, she stared into my eyes, and I was able to find a steady breath again surrounded by feelings of love.
When my senses returned, I found everyone staring at me. Confused and afraid, I shook my head and gripped the bridge of my nose to clear my thoughts.
“Sit,” I instructed my nephew.
Cautiously, he pulled the nearest chair out and did as I commanded. But he didn’t miss the way Claire’s hand was still covering mine. His eyes lingered there for a moment before folding his hands on the table.
“What did I miss?” he asked as if he hadn’t nearly had his head ripped off seconds earlier.
My teeth gnashed together. “We were discussing the rupture in the Blood Treaty. The Kemps chose to disavow and attack during the funeral. A fact you’d already know if you were here on time.”
His mouth hung open in shock. “I can’t believe it. And after the letter we received from Shayla? What’s happening?”
Shayla was a Witch of the Light from the Lawless Lands. One who vehemently disagreed with signing the treaty. She wasn’t in charge, however. Hector was. And Hector was the one I’d been communicating with.
The rest of my advisors shifted uncomfortably. I narrowed my attention. “What news did we receive from Shayla?”
“While this news with the Kemps is most terrible, I fear we cannot hold word from the Lawless Lands, Your Grace.”
Laurent gestured to an attendant who set a wooden box on the table in front of me. The smell of rotting flesh filled the air. My Grand Advisor passed a letter to me.
It read simply, ‘Negotiate this.’
My gaze shifted to the box, and my stomach sank.
I knew without opening it what was inside, but I had to look.
It was my duty to see the carnage. To witness it.
I lifted the lid, and found Hector’s severed head staring back at me.
Claw marks slashed across his face. The size and shape resembling Alec’s wound.
Sorrow buried in my heart. He’d been a friend. A man who wanted peace for his people. And who died for it. Unlike me, he didn’t get a chance at a second life to watch that peace flourish and fail for eternity.
Claire gagged, and I placed the lid back on the box, resting my hand on the lid and saying a prayer to Diana, hoping that his spirit found his way to the stars.
“See that he receives the burial he deserves,” I ordered my council, and the box was taken away.
Something was happening within the Witches of the Light.
In the Unified Territories and the Lawless Lands alike.
What happened to Temperance Kemp and Hector weren’t isolated incidents.
I could feel it. I started to reconsider Alec’s story, wondering if perhaps he’d actually seen a werewolf.
If the Witches of the Light were making these moves because they’d learned how to harness the ancient power of shifting.
In light of this news, things would need to change.
I needed to find a way to keep the peace and prevent war from spilling over into our lands.
That was my main duty. That, and keeping Claire safe.
I’d told her I was only going to tell the council what they needed to know, which, at the time, didn’t include our marriage.
But know, I needed them to know, because I couldn’t do this alone.
I had to lean on their advice when I wanted to make rash decisions to protect Claire. It couldn’t all fall on Natalia.
The peace we’d worked so hard for was being tested, and I wasn’t going to let it fall apart because of my pride.
“I’ve been keeping something from you all that I can’t hold any longer.” Natalia shook her head in warning, but I pressed on. “On my recent trip to the capital for my Sanguination Ball, when I met Miss Donadieu, I realized that I’d found my mate.”
I set my hand on Claire’s shoulder to bolster her strength as collective gasps went around the small room and all eyes went to her.
“While I resisted the bond due to my obligations here, it became unavoidable. I love her. And now, she’s my wife.”
The following silence was deafening. “From now on,” I announced, still standing, “when we are in session, Miss Claire Donadieu shall be known as Lady Claire Allard, Duchess of Roselyn.”
That was her name now. Claire Allard. But she had so much more than just my name, but my heart. My soul.
Claire appeared more than shocked at her new title, which caused a small smile to curve up one side of my mouth. A show of softness just for her. She was, after all, my lady.
When I turned back to the assembled, my lips were pulled tight. My niece looked incensed and I snarled to still her tongue.
“She is the lady of this castle, and you will show her all due courtesies and respect.” I grabbed my cane and slammed the point down hard on the marble floor, breaking the silence. “Did you hear me? This is your new duchess.”