Chapter 22: The Moot by Blood

Dara's POV

I walked to the edge of the ring and stopped where the cut grass began.

The old Alpha stood in it on four legs, enormous and patient, with his pale eyes on me.

Three hundred people were looking at me. I had never been looked at by so many in my life.

My hands were steady. I looked at them to be sure.

"I, Dara Standifer, daughter of the Alpha of Ashfall, enter the ring by blood," I said.

My voice carried farther than I expected.

"I name my father. He was killed sixteen years ago at the Wycliffes' call."

"The ledger of this stone says it was no fair challenge."

A sound went through the crowd.

"I ask the Council for one thing before I fight. I ask them to read what is written in the ledger."

The elder rose.

"The Seat Ledger lies in the vault," he said, "and the vault is the Alpha's."

"The Alpha is a wolf in a ring," I said. "The book belongs to the stone."

He looked at the old wolf. The wolf did not move.

"Then the Council will fetch it," the elder said.

Four of the clinic women and the old man in the canvas jacket carried the ledger up the vault steps, open on a board.

The elder read my father's last page aloud, to the pack, every word.

He read the line about the challenge never entered. He read the line about a daughter of eleven.

He read the witness line, and his voice slowed.

"Delacorte," he said. "Beta."

Every head in the crowd turned to the bench where the Beta sat.

The Beta stood up with his face gone gray.

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