The Alpha King's Bride novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Terms, Your Majesty?

Aldric's POV

I left her sleeping, because Judith Rooke was a night gone and nobody had gone after her yet.

My captain was waiting in the corridor outside my study.

He had not slept either.

"She crossed the northern line before midnight, Majesty," he said. "Six wagons, Lowe guards, and the Rooke silver."

"Where did she stop?"

"The Frostmark. The Northern Lord's gate took her in."

"I arrested that woman for poisoning my wife."

"The Northern Lord says the Crown has no writ north of the river."

I sat down behind my desk and put both hands flat on it.

Four years I had read Sunday reports about a girl in a kitchen, and I had done nothing.

Now the woman who put her there was drinking the Northern Lord's wine, and I could not send a single man across the river to fetch her.

"Double the gate guard," I said. "Nobody comes in with a Rooke or a Lowe badge. And bring me the list of every lord who voted for that petition."

"Yes, Majesty."

The door opened before he reached it.

Finola stood in the doorway in a plain grey dress with her hair still damp and her neck bandaged.

She looked at my captain, and my captain found a reason to leave.

The door closed behind him.

"You left a note," she said.

"I did."

"One line. On the pillow."

"It was the news that mattered."

"It was after," she said, and her chin came up. "You wrote me a letter about Judith after that."

My whole body remembered the night, and I made my face do nothing.

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