I Will Never Be Yours novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Stag Seal

Before the hall, I lifted the corner of page two.

Caspian had dressed and stood at the window with his back to me.

His thumb had covered that corner all night.

Under the corner was a second seal in dark red wax, pressed beside Alder's initials.

It was a stag's head, and I had seen it on the white-bearded elder's ring at the Council table.

"You told me you read this weeks ago," I said.

"I did."

"You told me everything, except who witnessed it."

He turned around.

"I wanted proof before I named another man to you," he said. "You'd only just learned to breathe near me."

"Rule three."

"I know."

"Neither of us lies. You hid a seal on the page I asked to see."

"Yes." He did not look away. "I was afraid that if you knew the Council had a hand in it, you would take the road again."

"I'm not taking the road."

"I know that now."

"Then you owe me one more thing."

"Anything."

"Stand next to me in that hall," I said. "Don't speak for me."

The hall at noon held two hundred wolves and smelled of wet wool.

Twelve elders sat on the dais.

Alder knelt in front of them in chains, his thigh bandaged, his freckled face grey.

He looked up when I walked in and smiled at me.

I had my veil folded over my left arm, and my left hand hung open at my side.

The white-bearded elder rose before anyone else could.

"This is an outrage," he said. "The King's Beta is mad with grief and has been wrongly named. We will hear him quietly and be done."

"I'll speak first," I said.

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