Chapter 10: The Stone

I shifted back in the snow with Penny's parka over my shoulders and her arm around my waist.

My legs shook so hard that I couldn't stand without her.

The ring was still on its knees. Nobody had told them they could get up.

"Please," I said, and my voice came out hoarse. "Stand. All of you."

They stood slowly.

Conall rose last. He walked straight to me through the trampled snow and stopped an arm's length away.

He pulled the parka sleeve up over my shoulder where it had slipped, with a care I could feel in my teeth.

Then he turned to face his pack with his back to me.

"The Whitcombe line did not die in that fire," he said.

His voice rolled across the clearing, steady and low.

"I was told it did, and I never asked for the proof. That was my failure."

A wave of whispering ran around the ring.

"There was someone left." He lifted one hand toward me without looking. "She has been sitting at my table for five years."

"Conall," Adelaide said, very quietly.

"You've seen what she is. I won't call it anything else."

He drew a breath.

"The seat is hers by blood. I'll step down tonight, in front of any council you like."

I took a step forward on my wobbling legs.

"No," I said.

Conall turned, startled.

"I'm not going to be handed a chair because you feel guilty," I said.

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