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I made my move and hoped I hadn’t over played my hand.
Bjorn viewed Galen as a threat, if not to his position as alpha, at least to the pack’s plan to marry me off to their god.
“I’m not going to do anything with him.” Bjorn combed his fingers through his thick, white beard. “You’ve claimed your birthright, your place among the Bone Clan and your crown. What happens to him now is up to you.”
“You’re serious? After all this? The beatings, locking him up? You’re just going to let me decide his fate?” I didn’t bother to hide my feelings of disbelief or mistrust.
Bjorn had proven himself to be a cruel leader and less than honorable. The fight he’d arranged between Galen and two wolves instead of accepting the challenge himself proved that.
I would have been a fool to take him at his word.
“You’ve accepted your fate.” Bjorn parted the slit in the sleeve of my dress and touched the demon mark on my wrist.
It was darker and more pronounced than the last time I’d checked not an hour before in the bath.
“This proves it.” He traced the sigil with his finger before adjusting the fabric of my sleeve and covering the mark. “There’s nothing your boyfriend can do about it. No matter how much he loves you. Or you love him. You saved him and you can keep him alive and in good health by reminding him of that.”
“So, what happens now? I stay here and fulfill my duties and he just goes about his life? No harm, no foul?”
“Something like that. What’s keeping him here, apart from you?” Bjorn shrugged my question off. What happened to Galen was of no consequence to him anymore. He got what he wanted. “I’m sure Valerie explained the concept of a queen’s consort. The question is do you want that life for him? Does he want it?”
“No.” I couldn’t speak for Galen, though I suspected I knew what his answer would be.
Still, even if he wanted to stay there with me at the end of the earth, I wouldn’t let him. He had a pack, people who loved and depended on him. He had a future, with or without me in it.
“Then you know what to do.” He wiped his hands together, as if he was clearing away dirt and grime. “You threw yourself at my mercy, declared your intention in front of the pack. What happens to him now, is up to you. Not me, princess. But know this, if you betray me, your pack or our god, we won’t kill you. We’ll kill him and everyone he cares about.”
Bjorn clasped his hands on my shoulders, held my gaze and gave a gentle squeeze.
“ I think we understand each other.” He turned and walked away, leaving me standing at the edge of the blood stained mats.
“ Princess.” Valerie called out, pushing her way through the last of the stragglers. “Princess are you alright? Talia?”
“Sorry, I’m not used to people calling me that. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to it.” I explained, turning around only when she called me by my name.
“You will, in time. I couldn’t get through the crowd.” Valerie waved her hand, gesturing to the room that had been all but emptied of pack members. “That was brave of you, approaching the alpha the way you did.”
“No, it wasn’t. There was nothing brave about it.” I hadn’t risked anything. Not when Bjorn couldn’t hurt me.
Of course, he could still use Galen to hurt me. And that’s exactly what he’d done.
“Damn it.” I exclaimed, my hands curled into fists at my side, crescent moon indents formed in my palm from my fingernails.
“What? What’s wrong?” Valerie scanned the room, searching for a threat.
But the threat was over. Bjorn already left.
“Nothing. I just got played, that’s all.” I growled, angry with myself for falling into Bjorn’s trap.
The alpha played the long game, moving his pieces around the chess board. I counted but in the end, Bjorn took the queen.
Check mate.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” Valerie’s brows pinched together, her eyes clouded in confusion. “Who played you? How?”
“Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” I wrapped myself in the fur cloak and headed for the medical building.
Bjorn got what he wanted. Vindication. After my mother ran away, there was a blight on his reign as alpha. I got the impression that she was the first wolf to defy him. He refused to have another, of the same line, the same blood, do what she had done.
