Half Claimed novel · Chapter 2 of 24
Chapter 2: The Ruling
The Moot rules a half mark is not a claim and Yvaine can be petitioned for at the Harvest Moon, while Idris is forbidden to come within nine paces of her.
The Moot met at noon, in the long hall where I had catalogued every beam.
Three Elders sat at the high table in grey wool, the same three who had sat for Idris's father.
The six visiting Alphas stood along the left wall as witnesses, and the pack filled the benches to the doors.
I stood alone in the middle of the floor, in the green dress, with the bite uncovered.
Nobody had told me to stand there.
I had decided that sitting meant asking permission.
The oldest Elder cleared his throat. "The Luna has called a ruling on last night's claim."
Verity rose from her carved chair at the Elders' right hand.
She had changed into a black gown with a high collar, and she carried a book.
"The Luna asks the Moot to rule that a half mark is not a claim," Verity said.
"That Miss Colter holds no rank, and bears no Luna's scent, and sits under no Alpha's shelter."
"And that any Alpha present may petition her, if the mark is not finished by the Harvest Moon."
The Harvest Moon was the ninth night of the Gathering.
Eight nights to find out what I was.
I looked at the Elders.
They looked at their hands.
"May I speak?" I said.
The oldest Elder nodded.
"Thank you," I said. "Three things, and I'll be quick."
"First, the Luna calls my bite a half mark."
"I agree, and I'm the one with the wound, so I'd like it noted that nobody has offered me a healer."
Somebody on the benches coughed to hide a laugh.
Verity's mouth thinned.
"Second, no Alpha may petition me by force, and an ask is only an ask."
"If the Compact says an open woman may be petitioned, it also says she answers, and that no answer is a no."
"I'd like all six of you to hear me say that."
Along the wall, six heads moved, and one of them, the big man in black leather, smiled again.
"Third," I said. "The Luna told me this morning, through her steward, that I'm to leave the Archive."
That was true.
The steward had come to the third step at sunrise with a hand-written note.
"The Archive key is held by the Luna's household," Verity said, evenly. "She has no household now."
"The archivist's key is held by the Archivist's Lease," I said.
I reached into my apron and took out a folded sheet.
I had carried it there for three years, because I like to know what I can prove.
"It was written by the late Alpha, Idris's father, and sealed in Silverpine's own wax."
"It says the Archive and its keeper answer to the Alpha, and to no one else, until the Alpha himself ends the lease."
"I'll read the line aloud, if the Moot would like."
The oldest Elder said, rather quickly, that the Moot would not.
He took the sheet, read it, and passed it down the table.
Each Elder read it and nodded, and the third gave it back to me with respect.
"The lease stands," said the oldest. "Only the Alpha can end it."
Verity folded her hands.
I saw her decide not to fight it, which is not the same as losing.
"Then, as the Luna, I invoke the Gap," she said.
My stomach turned over.
Everyone born in Silverpine knows the Gap.
It is the old custom for a claim that stops halfway.
It keeps the wolf who bit and the woman who bled from making a mistake in the dark.
Nine paces between them, always.
No words alone, only in front of witnesses, until the Moot rules the mark finished or void.
It had not been used in my lifetime.
"The Gap is granted," said the Elders, together, because nobody wanted to say it alone.
The doors at the back swung open.
Idris came in with the cold still on his coat.
His boots were black to the knee with ford mud.
His long hair had come loose, and a cut over one eyebrow was still bleeding.
He didn't look at me.
He walked the length of the hall with four hundred people watching.
He stopped at the far wall, exactly nine paces from where I stood.
I counted them.
He had counted them too.
"The Alpha of Silverpine accepts the Gap," he said, to the Elders, in a flat formal voice.
"I am told a half mark is not a claim."
"Then I have no claim on Miss Colter, and I will say so before the packs."
The words landed in the hall.
Nobody moved.
Under my ribs a heart began to pound, huge and fast.
It wasn't mine.
His mouth said he had no claim on me.
I stood nine paces from him with his pulse in my chest.
It kept saying the opposite of his mouth.
← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →
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