Chapter 16: The Crown Does Not Claim

Ansel's POV

I left her asleep at five and read the papers again in the dark.

There were three pages, and the woman in green had taken them from her mother's desk that same evening.

The first was a reading in the Blood Ridge seer's own hand, dated the night of the circle.

It said the Ludlow girl's mate wore the Crown.

The second was a note from Alpha Colter, in ink, dated four days after the circle.

It told his seer to find a woman of good family to stand beside his son.

She was to be "worth more" in the eyes of any wolf who asked.

The woman Brant had claimed to have found at the circle had not existed until the rejection was done.

The third was a list of dates.

The seer was the woman's own mother.

She had told me that plainly, with her hands folded, sitting in my office at eleven at night.

"I was never Brant's mate," she had said. "We have no bond. I was placed."

"And what did they tell you about Brinley?"

"That she was a rival pack's cast-off who'd tried to hurt him."

"And now?" I had asked.

"I watched her put him on the floor," she said. "He never once got up angry at her. He got up afraid."

I had not slept after that, though I had held Brinley until her breathing slowed.

At six the Colter Alpha asked for an audience.

He came to the war room with two of his men and sat down at the table without being invited.

He was a heavy man with a pleasant face, and he smiled easily.

"Your Majesty," he said. "I'd like to avoid a scene at noon."

"I'm sure you would."

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