Chapter 24: Supper

The first supper at Redhollow Lodge was my idea, and I wrote the menu myself.

Holly read it over in the kitchen with her hands on her hips.

"Two roasts," she said. "A ham, six pies, and a pot of gravy you could bathe in."

"There are a hundred and forty wolves coming."

"There are sixty in the lodge," Holly said. "The rest are Ronan's."

"Ronan eats like forty."

She wrote it down, grinning, and went to light the ovens.

By six the great hall was full.

Stonecrest filled the east wall again.

Ronan took the seat of honor and tucked a napkin into his collar before anyone could stop him.

Dr. Quince sat beside him with a glass of cider and the look of a man who had finally slept.

The Watch captain stood by the doors with his hands behind his back and let nobody in without a smile.

I came in last.

I had the cuff on my wrist and a gray dress that fit me again.

A daughter lay on each side of me in a carrying wrap, both of them asleep.

The hall stood up.

Sixty Redhollow wolves and every guest rose to their feet.

The sound of chairs scraping on stone went on a long time.

I stopped in the doorway.

I thought of the night I had walked this same floor in a plain dress, thin and cold.

I walked down the center aisle with my head up.

Cedric waited at the head table with the chair at his left pulled out.

Ash was in his eyes, gold and steady, and he did not hide it.

He kissed me on the temple, and then each of our daughters on the top of her head.