Rejected Me? I Married the Alpha King! novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Midnight Vows

Maxine and Elias marry at midnight before three elders and Brant's father, until Brant walks in and withdraws his rejection.

The only dress in the Keep that fit me was a navy one from the housekeeper's own closet.

Junie hemmed it with a stapler in the corridor outside the Moon Hall.

"You look like a very serious librarian," she said, and bit off the last thread.

"That's what I was going for."

"You're shaking."

"It's my shoulder."

"It's not your shoulder." She took my face in both hands. "Max. You can still run. I'll hold the door and tell them you're in the bathroom."

"I always plan an exit," I said. "I know where this one is."

"And?"

"I don't want it."

She looked at me for a second, and then she nodded and opened the doors.

The Moon Hall was empty of guests now, and the chandeliers had been turned down to one ring of light.

Three elders sat at a long table in gray robes, all of them looking like they had been woken for a funeral.

At the end of the table sat Brant's father, in a dark suit with the Redmoon pin on his lapel.

He had a stain on his shirt where Junie's crab puffs had landed.

He did not look at me.

Elias stood in the middle of the floor in his charcoal suit, with no tie and no crown.

When I came up beside him, he spoke without turning.

"You can still say no."

"People keep telling me that. It's getting insulting."

The corner of his mouth moved.

The oldest elder cleared his throat.

"By the Crown's law, a Crown may take a wife before three witnesses of the council. Let the witnesses be named."

"The three elders," Elias said.

"And one from Redmoon," the old man said, "since Alpha Prentiss sits on the council."

"Fine."

"And one for the bride."

"Me," Junie said, and raised her hand like she was in school.

Nobody argued.

"Then say it," the elder said. "In your own words. The wolf law doesn't care which."

Elias took my right hand, and his palm was warm and dry.

"Maxine Garrow," he said. "I take you to my table and my house."

I looked up.

"What is mine is yours to use. What is yours stays yours. I won't take your name, and I won't ask you to change it."

He was talking to me, not to the elders, and his voice was quiet.

"I'll stand where you tell me to stand."

My throat was tight.

I said what I had planned on the walk down the corridor.

"Elias Harrow. I take you to my table and my house. I'll stand next to you in public, and you'll tell me the truth in private."

"That's a good one," Junie whispered, behind me.

A steward stepped forward with a velvet tray, and on it lay a plain silver band.

Elias slid it onto my finger.

It was a little loose, and he turned it so the seam sat underneath.

"The Crown's seal will be affixed in the morning," the elder said. "As it stands, you are husband and wife."

My shoulders came down for the first time since the steps.

I was married.

I was married to the Alpha King, and my shoulder was still on fire.

"One moment," said Brant's father.

He stood up slowly, and every elder turned.

"I have an objection to the form. A rejected wolf waits thirty days before she can bond again. It's the old custom. The mark has to die."

"Custom," said Elias.

"Custom is law in this hall, Your Majesty, and you know it." He finally looked at me, and his eyes were flat.

"The girl was rejected less than four hours ago. The old bond isn't dead. She can't be sealed to another wolf, and neither can he."

The elders murmured.

The oldest one looked at me with something like regret.

"The mark would have to be shown dead," he said. "That is the usual proof."

"Show it," Brant's father said. "Or the wedding doesn't stand."

I put my hand on my left shoulder, over the navy fabric.

The skin underneath was still throbbing.

It hadn't gone cold.

Elias's hand closed around mine, hard, and I knew he'd felt it too.

"Alpha Prentiss," Elias said, very softly.

"If you are asking for a ruling, I will make one."

"I'm asking for justice."

"I'm asking for time," said a voice from the doorway.

We all turned.

Brant stood in the open door of the Moon Hall, with his tie pulled loose and his blazer gone.

He looked like he had run a long way.

He did not look at his father.

He looked at me, and his eyes were wet.

"Maxine," he said. "I withdraw it. I withdraw the rejection. Take it back."

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