In the morning the sun came up over the palace, though it did not warm me. Nothing was left but the resonance of what Lucian had said to me last night which still stuck to me like a brand: You already feel it... the bond burning inside you.
I resented that he was true. It annoyed me that his gaze fell on me and my heart tightened in my breast as my wolf knelt before him.
But I was not merely a wolf. I was myself. And I should not surrender so soon.
Warriors and nobles crowded the council room with their muttering bee-like humming. At the further end of the table, presiding, tall, authoritative, every inch the Alpha King, was Lucian. His gold eyes flew through the room, and--of course--stuck on mine.
The bang shook once more, scalding, undeniable. My wolf whined. But I clenched my fists, and invoked in myself the courage of which I knew not that I had.
I stood up.
Gasps circled the room. Nobody was allowed to go against the King in public.
Lucian I said, endeavoring to maintain my voice in the storm of emotion which buffeted my heart.
There was a pause, a stroke so keen that it cut the air.
The eyes of the King grew narrow and his aura smoldered like fire. Every one of the wolves in the room laid his head down, and I found it hard to hold mine high.
"You… what?" It was velvet over steel, deadly and incredulous, his voice.
I choked a little, and yet the words glided over his tongue before fear could strangle him.
"I reject you as my mate. I will never be chained down with a man who would put me in prison.
The room exploded—whispers, anger, terror. The Alpha King was not discredited by anyone. No one.
Lucian rose slowly out of his chair. He did not yell. He did not scream. That was worse. His silence was thunder in advance.
Even then when he finally spoke, he talked in a low black horribly serene voice.
You think that you can cut what the Moon Goddess herself has ordained? Foolish little wolf. The knot will not loosen, because you want it to. you may deny me a hundred times, and yet...
He came nearer, and stood above me, and his breath whistled in my ear as he said the words that he had never dared to say to any other person--
"And you will beat your heart only for me.
My body betrayed me. My heart was beating, my wolf screeched with familiarity, and with lips trembling with resistance, I shook my head.
And I knew, to my horror... that rejection was not the beginning of this war.