Chapter 5: Left at the Table

The King's dinner that night had sixty lords at it, and Kendrick stood up to make a toast.

I sat three seats down from the head of the table.

I wore a borrowed green dress, and the steward's wife had pinned the hem.

My father sat across from me. My birth mother sat beside him, holding my hand under the cloth.

Kendrick's seat was farther down.

Odette sat beside him in cream silk, watching him with open pride.

He raised his glass.

"To the northern wall," he said. "Three years of hard weather and good men."

The lords cheered.

"And to coming home," he said, and his eyes moved down the table to me.

I knew the look. He was about to be gracious.

"Many of you know my wife has filed a petition," Kendrick went on. "A misunderstanding. A family matter."

Someone coughed.

"I want everyone here to hear this plainly. Rowena has a place in my house for as long as she wants it."

"I've always treated her as a sister, and I always will."

"Nothing about that changes because Odette is going to be my Luna."

He said it warmly, and he believed it was kind.

Odette smiled around the table, and a few of the lords smiled back.

My mother's hand tightened on mine.

I put down my fork.

Then I stood up.

The room went quiet in a ripple, from my end of the table to his.

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