I Bore His Heirs, Then I Vanished novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Winter Bite

Aldric's POV

The council broke up in shouting.

Both benches were on their feet. Greywater wolves had formed a ring around Morven and the baby. The Duskmoor elders were arguing across the stone.

Delphine said something to the old elder, quickly, in a low voice.

He did not answer her. He walked straight past her, across the gravel, to me.

"Alpha," he said. "A word. Alone."

He led me round the far side of the stone, where the river was loud enough to cover us.

He was shaking.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Thirty-four."

"Then you do not remember. You were a small boy." He pressed a hand flat to the stone. "Your father took Duskmoor in a night war. It is called the Winter Bite in the songs."

"I know the story. The old Alpha was a weak ruler, and the pack chose my father."

"The pack did not choose." His voice was very quiet. "Your father killed the old Alpha in his own hall, with his wife and his sons. The old line had a white lock. Every Alpha of that house was born with it."

I stared at him.

"The old Alpha had a daughter. An infant. She was not found with the others. Your father's men searched the territory for a year. We told ourselves she had died of cold in the woods."

"She was not dead."

"I think she grew up in your kitchen."

I could not breathe.

I remembered a thin girl in the east wing with a white lock at her temple, the first time I saw her. I remembered noticing it. I remembered that by the second month it was brown.

"Delphine paints it," I said.

"Of course she paints it. Who else would?"

He took his hand off the stone.

"Alpha, I swore an oath to the old house as a young man. I buried my sons for your father. I have said nothing for twenty-seven years. I am telling you now because I am old, and because that child has the mark, and because you have the right to know whose seat you are sitting in."

← Chapter 10 · All chapters · Chapter 12 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend