Chapter 17: The Charge

They had put my brother in the pack house hall, in my father's chair.

It was the cruelest thing they could have picked.

Rhys sat in it with his hands on the armrests and no jacket on.

Six wolves stood along the wall, and none of them met his eye.

The two elders stood in front of him.

Costa came in behind me, and the wolf at the door shut it.

"Willa," said the older elder, without turning. "You shouldn't be here."

"I live here."

"You are a ward of this house, and a witness. You have no vote."

"I'm his sister."

"Then you are part of the charge."

My brother lifted his head.

"Leave her out of it," he said.

"The charge is simple," the younger elder said.

He read from a paper in his hand.

"Rhys Thackeray, Alpha of Hollowmere, killed the old Alpha of Cairnfell on the bridge, under a truce sworn before both packs."

"And hid the reason for twelve years," said the older.

"He bought silence with pack money from a woman in this valley. We found the payments."

"You found them because she gave them to you," I said.

Neither of them answered.

"Odette told you where to look."

"You walked into her counting house this morning, and four clerks watched you do it. So did I."

"Willa," Rhys said.

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