My Fated Mate Was a Lie, Now the Alpha King Wants the Truth novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Lock

"Say that again," Cassian whispered.

The black web across his throat had taken his voice down to a rasp.

Tull didn't struggle in the riders' grip.

He looked at the ring of freed women, then at me, with the fond patience of a man at a recital.

"The kingdom's wards need a lock," he said.

"Borrowed strength runs out. It has to be held shut by someone whose vow is free and who can hear what she's holding."

He nodded at me.

"One in a generation, and she only had to be allowed to grow."

My mouth had gone dry.

"We kept her useful and we kept her quiet," Tull said. "A fiance who bored her. A glove on her hand by rule. Seven years in the archive, mending the very dies that sold her neighbours."

"You wrote me a husband," I said.

"I bought you a leash, my dear, and it was a gentle one."

Someone behind me spat.

"The mark on the King was cast to call his queen," Tull went on. "When it began to fail, the Crown would beg for her."

"And you'd hand me over," I said.

"You would have been handed over very kindly."

"With a yes."

"A lock says yes once." He shrugged. "After that she does not get another."

The Registry had never lost the King's queen.

It had been paying her wages for seven years.

"You sent five investigators to look for a woman who was down the stair," I said to Tull.

I was looking at Cassian.

"I didn't know," he rasped.

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