Under the King's Protection

The officer hesitated before bowing to Kael.

"As you command, Your Majesty."

He gathered the notice and left us beside the table. My knee ached beneath my borrowed dress, and the bruises around my wrist had begun to throb again now that I was standing still.

"Will Damon be told that I'm here?" I asked.

"Silvercrest will be informed that you're under royal protection, and that its warning gives no one permission to detain you."

"But the warning itself will stay?"

"Unless Silvercrest withdraws it, yes. Other packs can choose whether to heed it."

I looked at the door the officer had closed. Damon had cast me out, yet he'd made certain the accusation would follow me beyond the boundary. I pictured the merchants whose shipments I'd arranged, the innkeepers who had welcomed me on trading journeys, and the clerks who used to send their questions directly to my desk. Some might remember the work I'd done. Others would see Silvercrest's seal and decide they couldn't risk offering me a bed, much less employment.

If I left this outpost tomorrow, where could I go?

I'd spent two nights hoping Damon would come to the cell and hear me out. Now I dreaded the thought of him learning where I'd found shelter.

"Could he demand that you send me back?"

"He could try," Kael answered, "but I wouldn't agree."

I glanced at the maps covering the table. Thin red roads crossed the northern territories, passing towns I'd known through invoices and supply orders. Until the ceremony, I'd assumed every journey I made would end at Silvercrest, with Damon waiting or traveling beside me. Even the places I knew suddenly seemed impossibly far away.

"How long may I stay here?" I asked.

"The physician wants you to rest. There's no need to decide tonight."

That left tomorrow unanswered, and I found myself wondering whether a king's patience was something he could afford to offer indefinitely.

"You brought me here without asking for anything," I said. "What happens when you do?"

Kael rested a hand on the table. "You can hear what I have to say before deciding whether to accept it."

"And until then?"

"You'll have a room and meals."

His answer was reasonable, which made me more uncomfortable. I remembered telling him that strangers rarely offered help without wanting something, and he hadn't tried to convince me otherwise.

"I still have to clear my name," I said. "Those accounts were my responsibility for years, and Damon wouldn't even let me explain the transactions."

"Would the original records establish what happened?"

"They should, but they're all in Silvercrest, and I doubt Damon would let me anywhere near them now." I'd spent years maintaining those ledgers, carefully checking every payment before it received my signature, yet the council had accepted a report from strangers without allowing me to examine a single page.

"I'm sorry," I murmured. "You've done so much, and I'm keeping you from your work."

"There's no reason to apologize for asking questions, Miss Vale."

A knock came and Mistress Elara entered carrying my cloak, which she'd cleaned as well as she could, though the mud had stained its hem.

"The physician says she ought to be in bed," she informed Kael. "And I happen to agree with him."

"Then I won't keep her," he said.

Elara held out the cloak, and I took it before turning back toward the king.

"Thank you for stopping those men," I said, feeling awkward that I had so little else to offer.

"Good night, Seraphina."

Upstairs, Elara placed water beside my bed and showed me the lock on the inside of the door. I turned it after she'd gone, then stood listening until her footsteps faded down the corridor.

My mother's hairpin lay on the bedside table. One of its three silver flowers had bent during the struggle, and I ran my thumb along the damaged petal before tucking it beneath my pillow.

The fire had warmed the room, but I still pulled the blanket around my shoulders. I thought of Damon's hand resting against Vanessa's stomach, and of the applause that had followed his announcement. Perhaps Vanessa had already moved her things into our room. I wondered whether she'd kept the flowers I'd arranged on the table before the ceremony.

Eventually, I lay down, although sleep took a long time to come.

By morning, a royal dispatch had reached Silvercrest.

Damon sat at his desk, the Northvale report open beside three requests from Elder Marcus to examine the original treasury ledgers. He had postponed them all.

Vanessa stood by the fireplace, scowling.

"They keep asking whether Sera approved the winter stores," she complained. "I'm the Luna now, and they ought to remember it."

"Then remind them," Damon said, reaching for his pen.

Before Vanessa could answer, a knock interrupted them, and a guard entered with a sealed letter.

"A message from the northern royal patrol, Alpha."

Damon broke the seal and read, his expression hardening at the second paragraph.

"What is it?" Vanessa asked.

"Three men tried to abduct Seraphina on the northern road. They'd seen our warning and knew she'd been banished."

"Abduct her?" Vanessa glanced at the guard. "People will think we sent them."

"Leave us," Damon ordered, waiting until the guard withdrew before returning to the letter.

"The king stopped them."

Vanessa stepped away from the fireplace. "The king?"

"Kael Draven intervened personally, and he's placed her under royal protection." Damon slammed the letter onto his desk.

He had cast Sera out in disgrace, yet within a day she had secured the Lycan King's attention. Had she traded confidential information about Silvercrest for shelter, or had she managed to charm the king into protecting her? Damon resented both possibilities.

"Why would His Majesty trouble himself over her?" Vanessa demanded.

"That's what I intend to find out."

She reached for the letter, but Damon pulled it away and studied the seal again.

"Where is she?" Vanessa asked.

"With the Lycan King."