Chapter 7: On His Knees in the Hall

"Tell him to wait in the great hall," I said.

Roan stopped with his hand on the door.

"He's your father, Ilsa."

"I know who he is."

"I won't see him until you've done what you promised in front of everyone who watched you let it happen."

I had never given the Alpha King an order before.

He turned back and looked at me for a long moment.

Then he nodded and spoke to someone outside in a low voice.

When he came back to the bed he stopped a step away from it.

"The hall is a long way," he said.

"You can't walk."

"No."

"I would carry you, if you'd allow it."

It was our first rule, and he was asking me to break it.

I thought about that and about how badly I wanted to be on my feet.

"Ask properly," I said.

His throat moved.

"May I carry you, Ilsa?"

"Yes."

He slid one arm under my knees and one behind my back and lifted me.

The heat ran through me again, and this time I did not look at the window.

He kept his eyes straight ahead the whole way down the stairs.

The great hall was full.

The pack leaders stood in front, twelve of them in their formal grey, and behind them rows of guards with their hands clasped.

Edric stood at the foot of the dais.

Harlan Brennock was nowhere in sight, and I forced myself not to look for him.

Roan carried me up the three steps and set me in the chair beside his own, and he did it gently.

Then he faced the room.

"Bring him in," he said.

Two guards walked Brock Shackleton down the center aisle with his wrists in iron.