The Alpha's Debt the King's Claim novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Moon Court

The Moon Court was a round hall with a ceiling of black glass, and every seat in it was full.

Three judges in grey sat on a raised bench.

The king's chair stood empty beside them, because he was my claimant, and no king may judge his own claim.

Evander stood against the east wall with his arms crossed.

He had not said a word to me since the corridor.

Torin stood in the middle of the floor with the Greywater elders at his back.

Elspeth lay on a litter beside him with a blanket over her knees and her cane across her chest.

She looked ill and brave, and half the gallery was already crying for her.

"Alpha Brackley," the eldest judge said. "State your petition."

"A pack-born healer's gift belongs to her pack," Torin said. "Maeve Corrigan was born in my hall and fed from my stores. She cannot leave with it. The unbonding is void, and the Crown has no claim."

A murmur went around the gallery.

It was a good argument.

It was an old law, and half the wolves in the room had been raised on it.

"Healer Corrigan," the judge said. "Your answer."

I stood alone, in the same plain grey dress I'd packed that morning.

"Three points," I said.

My voice shook once and steadied.

"One. Two winters ago the Alpha's life was mine to save, and I saved it. For that he swore a debt under the king's own seal. The debt law says a debt called is a debt paid in full, and a debtor holds no claim over his creditor afterward."

"The pack's claim is older than the debt," Torin said.

"The law isn't older than the Crown that wrote it."

The eldest judge unrolled the scroll from my debt.

He read in silence, then nodded slowly.

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