The Alphas Broken Mate novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Cup

Edda cried the way she always did, with her whole face, and she was already crying when they brought her through the doors.

She wore a pale blue dress and her silver locket, and she carried a basket on her arm.

Half of Blood Moon had crowded into the great hall to see her.

Caius sat in the Alpha's chair, and I sat beside him in a plain wooden one that Bryony had carried up, with my splinted legs on a stool.

Osric stood at his right hand.

"Lark," Edda said, and she ran at me with her arms out.

Two guards stepped in front of her.

"I'm sorry," she said, wiping her cheeks. "I'm sorry, I only wanted to see her."

Caius lifted one finger, and the guards let her kneel in front of my chair.

She took my hand in both of hers.

Her fingers were warm and soft, and they smelled of the lavender she had washed in every night of my childhood.

It was the smell of every kindness I had ever known at Thornfield.

"Oh, my love," she whispered. "You're alive. I prayed every night."

She turned to the hall, still holding my hand.

"Forgive my father for sending her to you," she said. "My sister has been ill since spring. She has fits. She fell from the stage at the Gathering and broke both legs, and she bit her tongue clean through in the fall."

The hall murmured.

"Father didn't know what else to do," Edda said, and a tear ran down her cheek. "He thought a strong pack could look after her."

I had not known she could lie so well.

Beside me, Caius had stopped breathing.

I could feel the pressure of his wolf against the chair.

I took my hand out of Edda's, and I picked up the slate.

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