Chapter 7: The Council Questions

Six elders sat at the long library table to decide whether I was fit to be called Luna-in-waiting.

Roland Radcliffe sat in the middle of them with his hands folded.

Jasper stood by the window, with his back to me.

He had not looked at me once since the paper under my door.

I had folded Rule 101 into a small square and put it in my apron pocket.

I could feel it through the cloth all morning.

"Miss Ostley," Roland said gently. "The council has a few questions. Please don't be nervous."

"Yes, Alpha."

"Where is your family from?"

I opened my mouth.

Rule forty said that when anyone but Jasper questioned me, I answered with one sentence.

I had read it three times that morning and thought it was petty.

"Ask the Alpha-to-be," I said.

The elders glanced at each other.

Roland's smile held.

"I'm asking you."

"Ask the Alpha-to-be."

Jasper turned from the window.

His face was blank, and I could see him working out what I had done.

"Her mother kept the healers' stores until she died," he said stiffly.

"Her father was a patrol warrior. He fell on the northern ridge, ten years ago."

"I see." Roland made a note. "Do you have rank, Miss Ostley?"

"Ask the Alpha-to-be."

"Omega," Jasper said through his teeth. "She tends the Luna's garden."

"Why would the heir choose an omega?"