Chapter 24: Blackfell in Snow

The council met at noon the next day in the shadow of the standing stones.

Wystan sat in his chair with a fresh blanket over his knees.

There was color in his face for the first time since I had known him.

The crown lay on a cushion at his feet.

Nobody had touched it.

"The throne is empty," the white-braided elder said.

"The old king is too ill to carry it, and the young king is gone. The Gathering must name a ruler."

Every eye in the ring went to Madoc.

He stood beside me with his hands loose and his collar open on my bites.

"Lycan Alpha," Wystan said, from his chair. "My brother."

"The treaty gave you the right to challenge for it. Now the Stone has given you a mate. Will you take the crown?"

"No," Madoc said.

A murmur ran around the half circle.

"No?"

"I do not want it," he said. "I have never wanted it."

"I came down off my ridge to sit through a Gathering and go home."

"A man who does not want the crown is the best man to hold it," said the gray-bearded Alpha.

"A man who does not want it will hold it badly and resent every hour," Madoc said.

"It should go to the council, whose members are chosen by their packs. A ruler no one elected will make the mistake Hadrian made."

"And you?"

"I will serve as protector of the realm for ten years, if the council asks."

"I will not wear the ring."

The elder turned to the half circle.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Claimed by His Lycan Uncle from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.