He Betrayed Our Fated Bond, And I Severed It All

Kael held the seal out to me. His knuckles were white around it.

"Take it back."

"No."

"The Varrow caravans turned around, Seraphina. Twenty wagons."

"I heard." I tossed a weed onto the pile. "Their pass needs a stamp and a countersign from the road captain. Captain Ambry. He drinks at the Tusk on market days."

He stared at me. "Who is Captain Ambry?"

"That's the problem, isn't it?"

Benric shuffled his feet. The page from the High Hall pretended to study his boots.

Kael stepped closer and dropped his voice. "Lord Elias of Greymarch arrives in two days. Trade talks. If this territory looks like a burning barn when he rides in, you'll regret it."

"I won't. You will." I wiped my hands on my apron. "The ledgers are in the study. Third shelf, behind the map case. Three years of my handwriting. Read them."

He left without another word. The gravel flew again.

---

For two days, the lamps in the study never went out.

Marta's niece worked in the main house, and she brought the news to our cottage like warm bread.

"He's found the grain books," she whispered on the first night. "He keeps saying, 'She did this? All of this?'"

On the second night, she giggled. "He asked Benric what a tithe roll was."

I didn't laugh. I just kept mending my shawl.

On the third morning, a letter came. Kael's handwriting, rough and slanted.

*Greymarch arrives tonight. Under the Hearth Law, the Lady hosts all foreign guests until the dissolution is sealed. You are still the Lady for twenty-seven more days. Be there.*

Marta read it over my shoulder. "Will you go?"

"The law says I have to." I folded the letter into a small, sharp square. "So I'll follow the law. All of it."

---

The High Hall smelled like roast boar and too much perfume.

I took the Lady's chair myself this time. Nobody stopped me. Lois sat three seats down in another of my dresses, blue this time, and her mouth was a thin red line.

Lord Elias of Greymarch was not what I expected.

He was tall and quiet, with dark hair tied back and a scar through one eyebrow. He bowed to me before he bowed to Kael. A few nobles noticed. Lord Dunmore's eyebrows nearly hit his hairline.

"Lady Seraphina," Elias said. "Your letters about the river tolls last winter. Those were yours?"

"They were."

"I've kept them. Best argued letters I've read in years." He took his seat. "I was hoping to meet the woman behind them."

Kael's fork scraped his plate.

The first two courses went fine. Then Lois stood up with her wine glass.

"A toast!" She swayed a little. "To our guests from Greymarch. And to Lady Seraphina."

The table went quiet.

"Our Lady," Lois went on, smiling wide, "who runs the whole territory. Every grain. Every road. Every wagon." She giggled. "And still couldn't keep one Alpha in her bed. Isn't that funny? All those numbers, and she never learned to count to two."

Somebody snorted. Lady Pellow hid her smile behind her napkin.

I cut my eyes to Kael.

He swirled his wine. He met my gaze, cool and flat, and did nothing. He wanted to see me break in front of Greymarch. I could see it in the slight tilt of his chin.

So I smiled.

"Thank you, Lois," I said. "Please sit down."

"Why? Am I wrong?"

"You're not on the guest roll."

Her glass stopped halfway to her lips. "What?"

"The guest roll for foreign envoys. I keep it. Under the Hearth Law, I decide who sits at this table." I folded my hands. "As of now, your seat is revoked."

"You can't do that!"

"I just did." I raised my hand. "Brannoc."

The captain of the hall guard straightened by the door. He had served under me for three years. He knew my voice.

Lois laughed, high and shaky. "Kael. Tell her."

"There's more," I said, before Kael could open his mouth. I pulled a folded page from my sleeve and slid it down the table. It stopped in front of Elder Hask. "The Fenwick mill. Lois's father. For two years, he's reported half the flour he actually grinds. The tax he owes the territory is missing four hundred silver."

Elder Hask unfolded the page. His eyes moved down the columns.

"These are mill counts," he said slowly. "From the toll gate."

"The toll gate counts every sack that crosses the bridge," I said. "The Fenwicks didn't know that. I did."

Lois's face drained white, then flooded red. "That's a lie! She made that up because she's jealous!"

"Brannoc," I said. "Escort Miss Fenwick out. Tonight. The tax court can find her father in the morning."

Brannoc hesitated. Just one heartbeat. His eyes flicked toward the Alpha's chair.

Then he walked forward and took Lois by the arm.

She screamed. She twisted. Her wine sloshed down the front of my blue dress.

"Kael! Kael, please! Don't let them—you promised me—"

Kael pushed back his chair. His jaw locked hard. He opened his mouth, and I knew exactly what was coming. *Release her.* One word from him and Brannoc would have to obey.

"Captain."

It wasn't Kael who spoke.

Elias set down his cup. He hadn't raised his voice at all.

"Forgive me," he said to the table. "I'm a guest here. But I studied your Hearth Law before I came. I always do." He tipped his head toward me. "The Lady holds the guest roll. The toll records are lawful evidence. Everything she's done tonight follows the letter of your own law."

His gray-green eyes moved to Kael and stayed there.

"Unless the Alpha of Ironfang plans to break his own law in front of a foreign envoy."

The silence was so thick I could hear the fire spit.

Kael stood half out of his chair. His hand was fisted on the table. For a long moment, he didn't move.

Then he sat back down.

"Take her out," he said, low and rough.

Lois sobbed all the way to the doors. They boomed shut behind her.

I picked up my spoon and finished my soup. My hand was perfectly still. Under the table, my knees were shaking.

---

The guests drifted out after midnight. I stood by the hall doors to say goodnight, the way the Lady always did.

Elias was the last to leave. He stopped in front of me and held out his hand. Not palm down for a kiss. Palm sideways. The way Alphas greeted each other.

"That was well done," he said.

I looked at his hand. Nobody had offered me that before. Not once in three years.

I took it. His grip was warm and firm.

"You didn't have to speak up," I said.

"I know." He didn't let go right away. "But the law was on your side. Someone needed to say it out loud." A faint smile tugged at the scar on his brow. "And I'd like to keep negotiating with the person who actually understands this territory."

"I'm only the Lady for twenty-seven more days."

"Then I'll talk fast."

I laughed. It surprised both of us.

Over his shoulder, at the far end of the hall, Kael stood by the dying fire.

He wasn't looking at me.

He was staring at Elias's hand around mine. His face had gone the color of ash and iron. A muscle jumped in his cheek, once, twice.

Then my mark flared.

Hot. Sudden. Not wanting this time.

*Warning.*

Kael set his cup on the mantel so hard it cracked. He started across the hall toward us.