AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Punishable by some very, very bad things.
It’s one word that snaps me back to attention. That word is “treason,” aimed directly at my brother-in-law.
“Joshua Perdue, you have been found guilty of treason—”
“By whom?” Josh shouts.
Nathan doesn’t answer him. He just pronounces the sentence. “All of your material assets are forfeit to the pack. You and your immediate family will be remanded into the custody of the royal guard and taken to a place of exile, where you will remain for no less than one century.”
I’ve never been shot, but I know in my soul that it’s less painful that the blow Nathan has just delivered. My sister. I’ve just come home, just gotten her back, and now Nathan is banishing her?
He sentences Julien and Clare to the same, and my chest aches with agonizing pressure. My sisters…gone. We may live much longer than mortals, but a century is still an eternity to be parted from them.
Three families receive a reprieve from banishment but not from the loss of their bank accounts, their houses, their cars, their seats on the council. Another receives twenty-five years of banishment but retains their home and business. Nathan is ruthless in his edicts, ignoring the shouts of outrage from the condemned.
Nathan’s skipped over Mother and Father, who glare up at him, their expressions without any emotion beyond hatred. Even now, in the face of total upheaval, they remain stone.
I must have some of that in me, because I don’t cry, don’t give my sisters tearful looks of goodbye or try to hold their hands as the guards lead them away. I don’t look when I hear struggle behind me, which is quickly subdued. I don’t want to know what’s happening to anyone, because I can’t even comprehend what’s happening to me.
Ashton’s parents are stripped of their wealth and banished for a century, just like my sisters and their husbands. Then, Nathan moves on. “Ashton Daniels.”
A strange hope flares up in me. Maybe he’ll be exiled. Maybe he’ll be sent away and I’ll never see him again. But then I remember that I’ll likely be banished, too, and it’s not the outcome I hoped for in this situation.
It startles me to realize that despite not really knowing Nathan and definitely not knowing where I fit into my pack, I don’t want to be away from either of them. I truly did want to be queen, at his side. Maybe for vanity’s sake, to prove that I’m better than everyone thinks I am. Maybe just because of the inexplicable draw we feel to each other. But I was thinking that the worst thing that could possibly happen to me would be to marry Ashton.
This…
I can never forgive Nathan for this.
Then he says, “You are guilty of treason. All of your material assets are forfeit to the pack. And your mating pact to Bailey Dixon is void.”
CHAPTER 18
I don’t want to feel grateful or relieved that Nathan has freed me from my obligation to Ashton. I don’t want to feel anything other than angry at the man who’s sending my sisters away, ruining their lives, probably ruining my life, when he finally gets around to sentencing my father.
“Thomas Dixon.” Nathan’s tone takes on a strangely friendly note that I can’t trust. “You have been found guilty of treason. But you came to my aid and proved a loyal ally during the earliest days of my reign. I wonder what I have done to lose your confidence.”
“Your Majesty—” Father begins, but he doesn’t seem to have anything else to say. He just shrugs his shoulders. “I’ve made an error in judgment. Please, don’t punish my daughters for it.”
“I’m not punishing your daughters for your wrongdoing,” Nathan says, maddeningly reasonable. “They’re being held accountable for their mates’ crimes under pack law.”
The other families have been taken away by the guards. Only Ashton, Mother, Father, and I remain. Nathan rises and comes down from the dais. He surveys all of us in turn, and for the first time all evening, our eyes meet.
I hope he feels every ounce of hatred in my glare. I hope he feels all my violent thoughts like knives through his flesh. But it probably wouldn’t matter; he seems incapable of understanding another person’s pain. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be causing me so much.
Did he ever promise you care? Devotion? I’ve been so foolish. No, I “intrigue” him. He’s attracted to me. There’s something strange in the air between us even as my heart has turned against him. But there hasn’t been anything else. He doesn’t owe me anything.
And my family has betrayed him.
“You’ve already lost two daughters,” Nathan says, looking away from me, as if he has nothing to do with our family getting torn apart. “I would hate to see you separated from another. Your assets are forfeit to your daughter, Bailey Dixon. And you will sign a new mating pact for Bailey. With me.”
