Chapter 17: The Altered Page

Two Reinhard wardens stepped down from the dais and came toward me.

Hamish's shoulder brushed mine.

"Rule one," he said, very low, so that only I could hear. "I don't touch you unless you move first."

"I remember the rule."

"There are two wardens coming and a hall full of men behind them. I'd like to break it."

"Break it," I said.

He took my hand.

He did it openly, in front of four hundred people, and he laced his fingers through mine and stood.

The wardens stopped where they were.

It is hard to arrest a woman with an Alpha holding her hand, and they both knew it.

"The first thing I ask for," I said, to the whole hall, "is a page."

The Alpha frowned.

"What page?"

"The Healers' register for the night of the fever," I said. "Twenty-two years ago. It's kept in this hall, in the strongroom behind the dais."

My mother went rigid.

"I want the keeper of the rolls to fetch it," I said. "And I want him to read it out."

The Alpha looked at my father.

My father looked at the floor.

A thin old man in a black coat pushed through the benches at the side and bowed.

"I'll fetch it, Alpha," he said. "If the pack wills."

"Fetch it," an elder called from the front.

"Fetch it," another said.

The keeper went through the door behind the dais, and every wolf in the room listened to his steps.

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