Chapter 21: The Lash Returned

Lucan's POV

Perrin held the chain.

"No," he said.

"It is the law."

"It is the law for the heir's kin, laying the first lash on the guilty." His voice shook.

"You did not harm the heir. You wronged her, and she has named no price."

"She named none because she is kinder than I am," I said. "I name it."

"Lucan."

I had not heard him use my name in front of others since we were boys.

"There are four hundred wolves in this hall," I said.

"Every one of them watched me sentence her without a question."

"Every one of them will now hear the sentence I give myself."

He looked at me for a long moment.

Then he took the chain.

They built the post in the yard where the first one had stood.

The torches had been lit again.

The packs lined the walls, the Alphas in front, the Cinder Row wolves among them in their patched coats.

The old woman had brought a stool and sat on it.

I took off my coat and my shirt myself.

The cold went into the lines on my back.

They were the old silver-white scars, the ones Linnet had closed one by one.

The scars did not hurt any more.

They would soon.

I looked for her in the crowd.

She was in the front, in her grey gown, with her braid over her shoulder.

The infirmary book was still in her arms.

Her face was white.

I had asked the old woman that morning if the bond would carry it to her.

She had said the bond carries what one mate does to the other, not what a man does to himself.

I had to believe her, because I could not have stood there otherwise.

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