A Hatred Most Pure novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Moot Gathers

The Moot sat in Dunmarrow's lower yard, on a ring of old standing stones, in the first white light of morning.

Nine holds had come.

Nine banners hung on the wall and nine Alphas sat on the stone benches.

Each had a Beta behind them, and a crowd of wolves packed along the fence.

I had never seen so many people look at me at once.

Ansel walked at my side across the frosted grass.

He wore his black coat and no glove, and his left hand hung loose and bare and warm.

Everyone saw it.

I heard it move through the yard in a murmur.

The Butcher of Carrow Pass had a dead hand, and it was moving.

"Stand where they put you," he said, very low. "Look at the Speaker, not at him."

"I know."

"Cora."

"I know, Ansel."

The Speaker of the Moot was a small old woman in a plain gray shawl.

She came from a hold so far north that I had never heard of it.

She sat on the highest stone with a heavy brass bell in her lap and the two heralds at her feet.

"The Moot will hear the charge," she said, and the whole yard went silent.

The heavy herald read it again.

It sounded worse in the open air, with nine banners moving over her head.

"Who brings it?" the Speaker asked.

"I do," Dietrich said.

He stood from the Saltmarsh bench in his blue coat with the silver buttons.

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