He Scorned My Love, Now He Watches My Rise novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Ring

The prisoners were kept in a stone storeroom under the kitchens, with a bench and a single lamp.

The younger raider sat on the bench with his wrists in cuffs of woven rope.

He was about twenty-two. His gray hood lay folded on his knee.

Cade stood behind me. The Ashfork Alpha and Blackwater's Alpha waited by the door, because Cade had woken them both without apology.

"You asked for me," I said.

"You're the one from Cedar Pass." He did not quite look at my face. "Your mother's the seamstress."

"Yes."

"I didn't know there'd be children in the schoolhouse. They said the building was empty."

"Who said?"

He licked his lips.

"I'll tell it once," he said. "If the Alpha swears I don't hang."

"You'll be tried in front of your own pack," Cade said. "And I'll speak for you if you tell the truth."

The raider nodded.

He pulled one boot off, picked at the lining, and drew out a folded scrap of paper.

"Insurance," he said. "I never trusted him."

I took it and held it under the lamp.

It was a payment slip with a Nightfall office stamp. Six thousand dollars, dated the day I left Gray Harbor, and a signature I knew by now.

Behind me, Blackwater's Alpha breathed out slowly.

"That's the Beta's hand," he said.

"His driver brought the cash," said the raider. "Said the job was to empty Cedar Pass's border for one night and scare the council. Make them beg Gray Harbor for patrols."

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