Chapter 5: The Duke's Table

The Wexel dining room had a table for thirty, and the Duke had laid it for three.

Hakon sat at one end with Elske on his left.

Duke Harkon Wexel sat at the other end, with a candelabra between them and a hundred years of family portraits on the walls.

Behind Hakon's chair, a pace to the right, stood Joren with his hands clasped at his back.

Hakon could not see him.

He could feel him all the same.

"My daughter tells me you've been running in the Rimewood," the Duke said.

He was a handsome man of fifty-five, with silver in his dark hair and a close-cut beard.

He smiled with his mouth only.

"Most mornings," Hakon said.

"With your guard."

"With my guard."

"A good boy, Hallgren," the Duke said, to the air above Hakon's head. "I remember his father. Captain Hallgren was a very modest man."

Behind Hakon's chair, nothing moved.

The Duke's eyes went to Joren's collar, where the iron ring showed.

"Iron," he said. "A plain ring. He wore it always, I think."

"Yes, Your Grace," said Joren.

"A pity about the fall."

"Yes, Your Grace."

Hakon put down his fork.

"You said it was a good dinner, Duke Wexel," he said. "You haven't told me what it's for."

"Straight to it. Your father's son." The Duke lifted his glass. "To your twenty-first birthday, Highness, and the Midwinter Moon."

"The Moon will rise either way," Hakon said.

"It will. And on that night the Charter says a Crown Prince without a Moon Queen has his regent named by the Council."

"I know the Charter," Hakon said.

"Then you know it also says the Moon Queen must be of the twelve houses."

"I know that too."

"My daughter is of the twelve houses," the Duke said. "She is of the best of them."

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Wolf Prince Hid His Mate, So the Lords Wanted His Crown from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.