Chapter 6 - Suspicion in the council chamber

Selene's POV

I was aware that the Council chamber would not be the same as soon as I entered it.

It was not only the border attack. It was not even the whispers, which pursued me down the passage like insects creeping along marble.

It was the bare place beside me.

Adrian ought to have been walking with me.

Instead, I walked alone.

Before I got to it the great doors leading to the Council chamber opened. The guards bowed. Their movements were stiff. Controlled. They knew something.

Everyone did.

I stepped inside.

The table was a long circular table already in occupation. High-profile merchants. Military commanders. Elder Rowan. Several influential nobles. And at the foremost of all was Morgana Vale.

Thorne, her son, was standing on her right.

He wasn't seated.

He was watching the entrance.

Watching me.

Morgana had her silver-streaked hair pulled back and her dark robes were as spotless as ever. She didn't greet me. Didn't nod. Didn't pretend.

Her eyes swept behind me.

Then returned to my face.

“Where,” she asked, as though it were an ordinary question, “is your mate?”

Her voice was not warm. No courtesy. Just demand.

I kept my back straight. “Adrian had a business meeting with merchants in the southern trade routes. He left before dawn."

There were some whispers passing round the table.

The fingers of Morgana struck one more time the wood. “On the night after his mating ceremony to the most sought after maiden  of this territory?”

Her gaze didn't waver.

"Yes," I replied and face no extra explanation.

Thorne laughed briefly and humorlessly.

"How touching," he said. Your fiancee leaves  you the night you two are meant to be together and you are so chill about it. And either that is very strong confidence... or very strong disrespect.”

My jaw tightened. “He has no duty to you to give you a timetable of his movements.”

He turned to me slowly after taking his seat. "He owes this realm loyalty."

Morgana raised her hand just before I had a chance to respond. The quiet was instantly resumed.

“You see, selene, you see, you must know our fright. Adrian is a stranger. He arrived without family. Devoid of formed alliances. Without history in our court."

“He is a prosperous businessman,” I said resolutely. “His trade routes are confirmed. His contracts--"

“Recent, Very recent." Morgana interrupted.

There was a pause. A heavy one.

Thorne sat up a little, laying his hands on the table.

“And now,” he said, “there is another werewolf attack on the border. The second in a week."

My stomach tightened.

"What?" I inquired as I could not restrain myself.

The chamber doors were opened once more.

In chains was dragged in a figure by two soldiers.

The smell hit me first.

Wet fur. Blood. Dirt.

The wolf was not in his full shape . His hands were still claws. His expression was that of man and wolf. The burns of silver were on his wrists where the shackles were.

His eyes flicked up.

Wild.

Angry.

Terrified.

One of the soldiers reported that he was caught in the eastern ridge. "He fought. Killed two of us before we overpowered him.”

The room shifted. Some people stood. Others swore to themselves.

I stayed seated.

Morgana rose slowly.

She made a circle around the table at a steady pace until she was standing before the chained wolf.

“This,” she said, pointing at the wolf, “is what mercy has made us.”

The wolf growled weakly.

Morgana didn't flinch.

“We put up with their presence across the border,” she went on, “over the years. We tolerated rather than eliminated. And what is their recompense of constraint?”

Her voice sharpened.

"With blood."

She swiveled about and looked at all.

"They attack our patrols. They test our defenses. Each month they send out scouts still nearer. They want more, they want war. They are sending spies.”

“That is not demonstrated,” I mumbled  thoughtfully.

Every head turned toward me.

“You mean by this,” Morgana hissed, “that this animal got into our country by chance?”

I had to restrain myself from saying I’d regret. “I mean to recommend that we interrogate him before executing him. In case there is an organization of such attacks, we will get no advantage by killing him without any information.”

Thorne drew his eyes a little.

“Talk.”

The wolf laughed suddenly. It was broken and harsh.

"You think I would speak to you?" he rasped.

A guard struck him on the face.

Morgana didn't stop it.

Instead, she approached him more closely.

“You shall be hanged at very soon ,” she told him. Your body would be exhibited at the border. Show your  species what is to befall them.”

The wolf strained against the chains as far as he could.

The guards increased the grip.

"Stop," I said sharply, standing. “Forming a spectacle will do no good but lead to retaliation. War is the last thing we want.”

Morgana now turned to me with a complete turn.

“And silence is an invitation to invasion,” said she coldly.

The room was tense. Thick.

"You are young," she continued. You think that moderation is power. It does not. It signals weakness."

“I think superfluous escalation makes war,” I said.

“And war,” she said, “is necessary sometimes. Why do you care so much?”

The silence which followed was sharp like a knife.

Thorne stepped in smoothly. “Perhaps she cares because she knows something.”

His eyes slowly moved along me.

“Her mate,” he said, “has disappeared, by the way, at the very hour another wolf is breaking through our front.”

My pulse jumped.

“That is mere coincidence,” I replied at once.

"Is it?" he asked.

"Yes."

He contemplated me a little more than was pleasant.

"I hope so," he said softly. "For his sake."

Morgana returned to her seat.

“You will find your mate and present him to us , Selene," she said, without any more enthusiasm. “In case he is innocent, then he will not have anything to fear.”

"And if he isn't?" I wanted to know, and I could not help myself.

Her eyes hardened.

"Then there will be no mercy."

The wolf was hauled out of the room.

The conference broke up into a discussion of strategy -border reinforcements, patrol shifts, trade lockdowns. I barely heard any of it.

My mind was racing.

Adrian had left before dawn.

Some other wolf had taken a dash at daybreak.

The mate bond throbbed gently at my chest.

Alive.

Present.

But distant.

I stood abruptly.

I said, struggling to control my voice, "I will take my leave, in case there is nothing more to be attended to.”

Morgana didn't look at me.

"Go," she said. “And hope your judgment in his choice was not faulty.”

I walked out and turned before people could notice the anger that was building up in my eyes.

It was colder than ever in the corridor but my mid was occupied.

Adrian would never attack us.

He wouldn't.

He couldn't.

The connection within me throbbed.

Stronger this time.

Not fear.

Pain.

I slowed.

Focused.

It was faint but real.

Something was wrong.

He was not in the trade district of the south. Had it been so, I would have felt calmness.

Instead, there was tension.

Strain.

And something else.

Guilt?

No.

I shook my head. I was letting the words of Thorne contaminate my thoughts.

Adrian wouldn't betray our bond.

He wouldn't betray me. I went to the wing that led to my own quarters. The instant I passed into the more quiet passage I paused.

There.

Faint.

In the smoke of the stone and candle and dust.

A scent.

Familiar.

Wild.

My heart skipped.

It was not so powerful as to lead me to where he was.

But it was there. My breath slowed. I followed it. One step. Then another. This increased around my chamber doors. My hand was floating around the handle. The mate bond pulsed sharply. Alive. Close. My throat tightened.

"Adrian?" I murmured softly.