Chapter 21: Mine, In Front of Them

The regent arrived on Monday at noon in a black car, with a driver and a silver pin.

He was a soft, pink man in a good coat.

He walked into the great hall of the Keep without wiping his feet.

Four hundred Strathmore wolves sat at the long tables and watched him come.

Nobody stood.

"I am sent by the Council of Nine," he said, "to hold this pack in trust until a new Alpha is named."

His voice carried in the rafters.

"The chair at the head of the hall is vacated. I will take it, and your Alpha will give me his keys."

Ewan stood against the wall by the fire with his sling off at last.

He didn't move.

I sat three tables down with Daphne on my right and Brigid on my left, with the cat in her lap.

"Charming," Brigid said, not quietly.

The regent's eyes found me and stopped.

"Miss Corvane. The Council has not forgotten that you belong to its judgment."

He sniffed.

"You will remain at the Keep until the hearing in eleven days."

"I'll be at your hearing," I said.

"Naturally."

"On my own feet."

"You will go where you are taken."

I stood up.

The bench scraped.

The wolves on either side of me went quiet, one table at a time.

I didn't hurry.

I walked the length of the hall between the tables.

I stopped in front of Ewan.

He looked down at me.

His eyes were very green, and wary, and he did not say my name.

He had promised.

"Two terms are still standing," I said, loud enough to reach the rafters. "Do you remember them?"

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