Chapter 19: The Throne He Refused

Evander's POV

Seren fell asleep on top of the covers with her boots on.

I took them off and pulled the blanket with the thistle over her.

I stood watching her breathe for a full minute.

Four hours until moonrise.

My father was sitting in my great hall when I came down.

He sat in my chair at the head of my table, and the whole court stood along the walls.

"Close the doors," he said.

Someone did.

"You have had a busy morning, my son."

"I stood in a field with some friends."

"You stood in front of wolves for a human girl. The entire feed is full of it."

He coughed into his cloth and looked at the dark smear on it with distaste.

"Sit."

"I'll stand."

"Then stand and listen."

He folded his hands.

"Your mother was a mistake I made in my weakness."

He looked at his hands.

"I let her keep a heart, and it cost me twenty years of peace."

"She was a prisoner."

"She was a wife," he said. "I will not argue the word. I am not here to argue the past."

He looked at the court.

"I am dying. You all know it."

He tapped his chest.

"The rot has reached my lungs. Without the girl I will be dead before summer."

Nobody spoke.

"I offer my son a bargain," he said, "before every lord and lady who will serve him after me."

He turned back to me.

"Hand me the girl tonight. Stand beside me at the border and watch the Alpha deliver her."

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