Chapter 13: On His Knees

Torin did not get up.

He stayed on the black stones, on his hands and knees, and I watched him understand that nobody was going to help him.

His beta took one step toward the ring.

The red-bearded Alpha from the eastern hills looked at him, and he stopped.

"Wynne," Torin said.

"Don't."

"Please. Just hear me."

I had waited five weeks to hear him say please.

It did nothing for me.

"Majesty," he said, without taking his eyes off my face. "I withdraw the challenge. I ask the Court to let me speak as a man, not as an Alpha."

Ronan sat down on the dais as if he had all day.

"Speak."

Torin turned on his knees to face the benches, and then he turned back to me.

His hands were flat on the stone, and they were shaking.

"I put you on that rock," he said.

His voice cracked down the middle.

"I said take my Luna, and I watched them walk you over the line, and I thought about nothing but whether Odette was warm."

Somebody on the bench breathed in sharply.

"I didn't know about the baby. I know that's no excuse. I wouldn't have known anyway, because I never asked you why you were so tired."

"No," I said. "You never did."

"I'll ask now. Tell me what it cost you."

I looked at the stone under his palms.

It was the same black rock as the ring, scraped bare by the wind and frozen hard.

"An hour," I said. "The guards who held me can tell you the rest."

My voice was level, and I was proud of it.

"You didn't see it, because you were looking at her."

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