Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Elowen’s POV

The Alpha King sat on the raised platform of bone and fur, eyes sharp as winter ice.

I stood before him with my head bowed, the way I’d been taught since I was small.

“Did you succeed?” he asked.

I nodded once. “Yes, my King.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “Good. The Southern prince finally tasted Northern blood, that is a start…men like him do not break from pain alone.”

I felt Thorne standing beside me but when I glanced at him, I could see the worry in his eyes but he said nothing in front of the King.

“Good,” the King said. “Bring the prisoner to me. I want to speak with him myself.”

I obeyed.

Kade walked into the hall with the guards following him. His wounds had been cleaned but not fully healed…he kept his back straight and his mouth shut, the same pride set to his shoulders he had worn in the cell.

The King dismissed everyone except the two of them so I waited outside the heavy doors with the guards.

I did not hear what was said.

When Kade came out again, his expression was livid. Rage burned so hot in his eyes that the guards stepped back without being told, whatever the King had offered or threatened, it had struck deep.

I leaned closer to him. “What did he say to you?”

“And why do you want to know?,” he asked.

“I only thought—-.” I tried to reply before he cut me off.

“Nothing that concerns you, try not to flatter yourself.” He said flatly.

He pulled away from me and kept walking.

Not long after, word spread that the King had ended his imprisonment completely. Kade was moved to a proper tent on the edge of the warrior grounds…no more guards outside his door, no more chains or daily whippings, so I assumed his attitude had softened and that whatever had happened between them, it was working.

That night my brother found me sitting away from the noise of the camp and he came to sit with me.

“Are you in pain?” he asked.

I knew that he meant if the soreness between my legs still lingered.

“It is all right,” I said. “I can do it if it helps you.”

He reached out and smoothed a hand over my hair, the way he used to when I was a child and couldn’t sleep from hunger.

“He is finally wavering,” Thorne said, voice low. “I saw it in his face when he left the King and we must take advantage of it now, Elowen. You will have to move into his tent and live with him so you can stay close and bear his pup as soon as possible.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

“You do not have to like him…you only have to succeed.”

The next morning I carried my few belongings across the camp. Warriors watched me pass, some smirked while others looked away but everyone knew what the King had ordered.

I pushed open the tent flap and stepped inside.

The moment the heavy cloth fell behind me, he moved so fast I barely saw it happen…his hand closed around my throat, pinning me against the tent post, his eyes burning down into mine.

Heat from his palm burned against my skin.

I looked at him calmly and did not struggle despite the grip on my neck.

“Have your wounds healed enough for you to attack me?” I asked. “Or are you not afraid of reopening them?.”

“Careful,” he said. “You assume I care about what happens to my own body right now.”

“You should.” I said.

His eyes stayed hard and cold. “Are my warriors alive?”

“Yes.”

His grip loosened, just slightly.

“All of them?”

“The ones who were taken with you, yes.”

“Prove it.”

“I don’t need to prove anything to you,” I said. “You either trust me or you don’t, either way, nothing changes what I came here to say.”

“I want to see them…now.” he said again, sharper this time.

I pushed his hand away from my throat and walked past him to the bed, sitting down like his anger meant nothing to me at all.

“You can see them,” I said. “But I have a condition.”

His jaw tightened. “Name it.”

“Have a child with me and once the child is born, you will see your men.”

Kade’s mouth twisted into something ugly. “Pregnancy takes months, I will not sit in this frozen waste waiting for a child while my men rot.”

“Then show good faith first,” I said. “We will try for ten days and If you cooperate, I’ll ask my brother to let you see your men before the child even comes…you will see with your own eyes that they still breathe.”

He stared at me for a long time like he was calculating moves behind the anger. I could almost see him weighing the risk against the need.

“You are using my men against me,” he said.

“Call it whatever you want.”

“Ten days,” he repeated slowly.

“Ten days,” I said. “Unless you’d rather keep guessing whether your men are alive.”

He said nothing for a long moment, jaw working like he wanted to argue and couldn’t find the ground to stand on.

“Fine,” he said finally. “Ten days, I agree.”

That was all I needed to hear.

I stood, before he could step back I moved fast, planted both hands on his chest and shoved him down onto the bed. He hit the furs hard, I climbed on top of him and pinned his wrists beside his head with more strength than he expected.

“You’re rather confident for a woman who barely knew what she was doing last night.”

I leaned down until my mouth was close to his ear. My voice stayed quiet and steady.

“I learn fast,” I said, climbing over him. “Now let me inspect the goods first.”