Chapter 6: A Name Nobody Says

The hall broke open.

"The Alpha is unwell!" the stepmother cried over the noise. "Take him to his rooms! Now!"

Four wolves in grey closed around Edgar, and he fought them, still staring at me, until they got him through the side door.

His voice came back down the corridor once more, cracked and ragged.

I couldn't make out the word, but I knew it.

"Study," said Osian in my ear. "Quickly, before I say something I can't take back."

His study was a stone room at the top of the east tower.

It held a fire, a map of three valleys, and a table covered in unopened letters.

Garland followed us in and shut the door with his back.

"Five hundred and twelve," he said to the ceiling.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Insults. Fourteen new ones tonight. The King has a talent."

"I did not insult anyone," said Osian.

"You called an entire pack liars in front of its Luna."

"I called nobody a liar. I asked a question."

"It amounts to the same thing," said Garland, and sat down with his ledger.

I laughed, which I had not expected, and my knees gave out a little.

Osian had a chair under me before I could fall.

"Here," he said, and put a cup of hot spiced wine in my hand.

His fingers were enormous, and when they brushed mine, I felt it all the way to my elbow.

"Lycan law," said Garland, writing. "A life saved is a life owed."

"The saver may name any price, and the King pays it. Land, gold, a pack's loyalty, a head."

"I don't want a head."

"Noted," said Garland. "Rare."

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