The Alpha King's Bride novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Mark

The moon came up full over the ford twelve days later, and the whole realm had come to see it.

Lords stood on the south bank in their house colors.

The old wolves of the Frostmark stood on the north bank with their staffs.

Villagers lined the water with lanterns, and Perrin held the line in front of them with his sword sheathed and his chin high.

I had carried the iron circlet in a satchel for all twelve days, and I had not put it on any head.

I walked down to the water in a plain white dress with my hair loose.

Aldric waited at the edge of the ford with his coat open and no crown.

He had waited here before, alone, with a trap in the reeds.

Tonight he was smiling, and I could not stop looking at the way it changed his face.

I stopped in front of him.

"I asked you in the garden," I said. "I asked you in a fever. I asked you in front of nobody."

"Yes."

"I'm asking now. Sober, under the full moon, in front of every lord who thought I belonged in a scullery."

His eyes did not leave mine.

"I want to make a change to the terms," I said.

"I'm listening."

"No year. No separate room. No limit on the mark." I held up one finger. "And one more."

"Name it."

"I mark you first."

A sound ran through the crowd.

Aldric went very still.

Then he bent his head and bared the side of his throat to me, in front of sixty lords and five elders and half the north.

"Do it," he said, very low.

I put my hand flat on his chest and felt his heart going under it.

I leaned in, and I bit.

I did not do it gently.

The taste of him flooded my mouth, salt and heat, and he groaned and his arm locked around my waist.

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