Chapter 7: The Engagement Party

The invitation came by courier at noon the next day, on cream card with a gold edge.

Alpha Prentiss and his wife requested the pleasure of the Crown and the Crown's wife at the engagement of their son.

"They want to see me walk in," I said.

"They want to see you walk in alone," Elias said. "I'll be beside you."

"They want to see what the scent seal looks like in a ballroom."

"Then we'll show them."

That evening the Redmoon hall glowed with candles, and two hundred wolves turned their heads at the door.

I wore black, a plain column of it from the Keep's old stores, and Elias wore the charcoal suit again.

His hand rested on the small of my back.

It was warm through the silk, and I could feel exactly where each of his fingers was.

Heads turned, and noses lifted.

A woman near the stairs breathed in and blinked, and I knew she had caught him on my skin.

"They can smell you on me," I murmured.

"They can smell me on you," Elias said. "It's the same thing from where I'm standing."

Sylvie found us before we reached the bar.

She was in cream silk, with the little gold moon at her throat, and she took both my hands.

"Maxine, I'm so glad you came," she said. "I was afraid you wouldn't."

"I was invited."

"I know. I did the cards myself." Her eyes were bright and wide. "I hope you don't feel lonely in that big house."

It was exactly the voice she'd used in the powder room.

It was soft and kind, and it had a small edge in it I had never heard before.

I took my hands back.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Rejected Me? I Married the Alpha King! from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.