The dryads took Cade’s overture as the change of topic it was. They discussed the foods available on the table with some interest, each clearly trying their best to ignore the gathering crowd.
I couldn’t ignore it. After so long as Declan’s guard, I was aware of every new person who came close, every new person who wanted to see whatever the drama was going to be between Sonja and the dryads.
When the crowd was large enough, she said, “Surely creatures as old as you have seen generations of consorts. Were any of them unhappy?”
The elder tree turned to look at Sonja. Her face was entirely made of wood, her eyes carved into it. It was impossible to read the expression in her gaze as her eyes trailed over Sonja’s face.
I realized where I had seen the moving wood before. It came from Cade’s door and the chairs in the council room, some long-ago gift from dryads to House Bartlett.
“A great many wolves have been made unhappy by wearing a collar when they did not want to. You remember consortship as it is today, a meeting of two mostly equal parties—given that one has more power and more money and more freedom than the other. I remember when wolves would be hunted to the ground, stalked until they could walk no further, muzzled and branded by magic.” The dryad accepted the plate of food that Oak brought back. “I remember a great many wolves who were unhappy, even at House Bartlett.”
Sonja went pale, her skin almost the same color as Cade’s. She opened her mouth, but I moved forward automatically. It was my job to protect Cade and his guests. If Sonja hurt them, it was Cade who would pay.
The movement brought her attention to me, and she smirked, lips pulling back.
“You’re right. In the past, it was a gruesome sport. However, there are wolves today that choose to be consorts. Like Cade’s new pet.” She gestured to me. “Well, Miles? Why don’t you explain to the dryads why you chose to be a consort? You speak on it so eloquently and wear your collar so proudly.”
The snicker that filtered around the room wrapped tension around my neck, choking me almost as tightly as if Basil had decided to squeeze. There was only so long Cade and I could go with the pretense that I was still getting used to the collar because I wasnevergoing to wear it. That was a step too far, even if it meant never finding out what I needed to know to free myself from the past.
“You’re right, Sonja. It is awkward for me to wear a collar.” I brought my hand to my neck. “But the fact that I don’t want to look like I get fashion tips from Hot Topic doesn’t change why I decided to become a consort.”
Wolves could hear everything. I could hear the shift of mages, their heavy cloaks and expensive clothes sliding against their skin. I could hear all of the different heartbeats, the soft rattle in someone’s chest, the food someone was now afraid to chew, given how quiet it was.
And near the wall, I could hear another wolf. The sound was audibly different than the humans. The heart beat slower, the breaths more even, the sub-audible growl I could almost feel in my feet.
Jesaiah.
“I decided to become a consort because I met someone worth sacrificing myself for,” I said. Cade’s heart suddenly sped, and I could smell him next to me, a spike of panic and fear that I ignored. “Because I understood protecting House Bartlett would mean protecting something greater than myself. It would mean finding a cause that was worth my time, my devotion, my life. Wolves spend our entire lives looking for something greater than ourselves. Some find it in their pack. I found it here.”
I thought about that moment when I had given assignments, when I had been an alpha of the pack that wasn’t a pack. Everything in me had sung with the truth of it. I wanted that, more than I wanted anything else. I wanted my mother’s ring on my own finger. Emperor Wolf.Lupus Imperator.
Sonja cleared her throat and offered three slow claps. “Well spoken. Quite rousing. There, you see?Thatis what consorts are today.”
The elder tree nodded, but there were grooves carved in the wood between her brows and beside her lips. “As you say.”
Leaves rustled, and one of the dryads made her way close to me. She bent near my ear. “The elder dryad would speak to you in private at your convenience.”
Frowning, I glanced between the dryad next to me and the elder dryad, who had turned back to Cade, speaking about some disease attacking House Bartlett trees. Cade was asking for the dryads’ help examining and curing it.
I hadn’t seen the elder dryad speak with the one who had approached me. I hadn’t even seen the elder dryad glance at her.
Then again, there were rumors that, like the trees they took care of, dryads were able to communicate through their roots, through subtle chemicals they released into the air.
“I will make time for it,” I murmured. Offering my arm to the dryad, I walked back to Cade, standing just behind his shoulder.
Music filtered through the invisible speakers, and several mages took to the dance floor. They clasped hands and began an old-fashioned waltz, moving around the floor like dolls on top of a music box.
Petrona made her way over to us, the click of her walking stick as distinct as a metronome. When she was close enough, she extricated Cade from a conversation with one of the council members about water management. Then she nudged both of us toward the dance floor.
“This would be the time to put some of the rumors to rest, Prince Bartlett,” she murmured.
Cade turned to me, his eyes wide. I shook my head, “I don’t dance.”
“Learn quickly,” Petrona said, her smile masking the insistence in her words. “The king always dances, either with his spouse or his consort.”
I was about to argue again, but Cade grabbed hold of my hand, a slight tremble in his fingers that made them tighten. “Of course, thank you for reminding us.”
He pulled me onto the dance floor, and there was some shuffling until we ended up in something approximating the right position, his hand on my shoulder, mine resting on his back. I could feel the heat through the shirt, the movement of his ribs as he took an uneven breath in.
