The Cursed Blood novel · Chapter 25 of 32

Chapter 25: The Council

The moon came up over the ridge the next night, full and white.

By then the stones were ringed with wolves.

The east slope came first, all thirty, and took the seats nearest the fire as promised.

The river packs came up from the south. The high meadow wolves came over the top of the ridge.

Then the Mardells.

Three hundred of them, up the ridge road, in their best.

The Alpha walked at the front.

Gold at his throat. The bright new signet on his right hand.

Behind him, last of all, came the kitchen.

The cook, the laundry woman and two kitchen boys, carrying a door between them like a stretcher.

Margaux walked beside it, holding a lamp.

Alden lay on the door under three blankets.

The black lay over his face.

They set him down at the edge of the firelight.

The old man got up off his stool.

"The Warden of Cinder Gap called this council," he said. "Every pack is here. Speak, warden."

I took off my boots anyway.

I walked into the middle of the ring, barefoot on the frozen ground, and the ground hummed back.

"Eight years ago my mother died at Cinder Gap," I said. "You were all told it was a rockfall. It wasn't."

I held up the ledger page so the firelight caught the underlined line.

The honey elder had the council chest open on her knees.

She lifted out a folded copy and held it to the firelight.

"Same sale," she said. "Same Monday. Signed by the Mardell Alpha."

A murmur went through the river packs.

"A page stolen from my study," the Alpha said.

"So it's from your study," I said.

The east slope laughed. A few of the Mardells did too, and stopped fast.

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