The Warlord of Wycliffe: The Dethroning of My False Mate novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Seat

Dorian's POV

I stood at the back of the Greyhollow Hall that night with a bandaged side and a sour cup of tea.

I had not been so useless since I was nine.

Elowen sat on the high seat with the iron circlet on her head.

She had not taken it off since the yard.

Greyhollow came to her in a line, one by one, and each person bent a knee or bowed or put a hand to a heart.

She greeted all of them.

She knew every name.

That was the thing I had not expected.

She had been the pack's quiet bookkeeper for a year, and she knew which child had a cough, which widow needed fuel and which old man would not take charity.

They did not bow to a sealed wolf.

They bowed to the woman who had paid for their winter.

When the line ended, the Stone-keeper rapped the floor.

"The circlet is hers by the circle," he said. "Does any wolf of Greyhollow stand against her?"

I looked at the sixth elder.

He was the one who had voted nay.

He sat with his arms folded and his jaw hard, and his son stood behind him, a huge young wolf with a shaved head.

The son stepped forward.

"I do," he said.

A murmur went through the benches.

"She is not Greyhollow," said the young man. "She is Ivorymoon blood, from the south. She was kept here as a mate to our Alpha. A mate is not a rule. I say the seat belongs to a wolf born in our stones."

My hand dropped to my belt.

I had no sword on.

I had no right to be in this fight.

I started forward anyway.

"Dorian." Her voice cut across the hall. "Stay where you are."

"Elowen..."

"This one is mine."

I stopped.

It was the hardest thing I have ever done.

She stood from the high seat and walked down the steps.

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