The Alphas Broken Mate novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The Sister's Sentence

Lark's POV

On the third day, six Alphas sat on a bench on the dais of our great hall.

Blood Moon's whole pack filled the floor, and the Thornfield soldiers who had knelt on the road knelt now at the back, under guard.

Merrick stood in front of the dais in chains, with his sword arm bound in a splint.

Edda stood beside him in chains of her own.

Her pastel dress was gone.

She wore grey wool, and she had not stopped shaking since the guards brought her in.

The eldest Alpha on the bench had a white beard, and he read the vote out in a flat voice.

"The Council holds that Caius Dunraven is unfit to lead Blood Moon, for kneeling to a mute stranger."

Caius stood at the foot of the dais with his hands open at his sides.

He did not argue.

I rose from my chair beside the dais without my crutches.

Every head in the hall turned.

"I ask," I said, and my voice scraped, "to be heard."

The old Alpha stared at the ridge on my tongue where the silver scar had begun to close.

"The mute can speak," he said.

"A little," I said. "Enough."

I walked down the steps.

My legs held.

I stopped in front of my sister.

"Edda," I said. "Say it. All of it. Here."

She lifted her chin.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Then I will say it," said a boy's voice from the back.

It was the farm boy from the road, one of the Thornfield soldiers who had knelt there, the one who had cried because his knees would not obey him.

A guard hauled him up by the arm, and he stood shaking in the middle of two packs.

"I carried the water that day at the Gathering," he said.

"I saw her put something in the cup from a little brown bottle."

"She held the girl's head still. She said, 'Hush, drink, it's nearly over.'"

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