Chapter 6

THE BROTHER IN THE SHADOWS

I lingered in the archway long after the carriage wheels got lost in the dark and rested my back against the cold stone wall as I listened to my heartbeat return to normal. The night air bore the smell of crushed grass and melted candle wax flowing out of the ballroom. 

My brother had a mate.

I revisited the thought over and over again in my head. For eleven years, I had watched Kael alone at every ball, feast, and gathering where kings were expected to find their queens. During all those years, I had held on to the hope that he would rule forever without an heir to inherit his throne.

However, that hope had a face now and her name was Aurelia.

"You look like a man who just lost a bet," a voice came from behind me.

I didn't turn right away as I knew who it was. Corvin Ashe, a merchant's son who had learned that flattering me would cost me nothing and might earn him everything someday.

"I look like a man who is thinking." I faced him. "There is a difference."

"The whole hall is thinking about the same thing. The King has found his mate, and some are calling it a miracle." Corvin's lips twisted into a crooked smile. "Others aren't so happy."

"Which others?"

He glanced at the light spilling in from the ballroom doors then lowered his voice. "The Ravenscrofts. The Duskmoors. Half the families who spent ten years preparing their daughters for this night. They are all in there currently, smiling for the crowd while dying inside."

A small smile touched the corner of my mouth. "Then perhaps I should go comfort them."

I entered the ballroom with my shoulders straight and a pleasant expression on my face.

The lights from the chandeliers shone and threw gold colours on silk gowns and polished shiny boots. The orchestra had resumed again in a slow tune, as if the musicians themselves did not know how to continue after what had just happened.

"Prince Malrik." Lady Ravenscroft reached me before I had crossed half the room. She snapped her fan open and closed with quick, irritated movements. Her daughter, Isolde was by her side but her eyes were glued to the doors Kael had just disappeared through.

"Lady Ravenscroft." I bowed politely, but not so low to be mistaken for mockery. "What a remarkable night.”

"Remarkable." She dragged out the word as though it left a bitter taste in her mouth. "That girl slapped him in front of the entire court, yet he still claimed her."

"The bond doesn't ask for permission," I said calmly. "Not even from kings."

Isolde's angry eyes met mine. "She is nobody but an Ashthorne. Her family hasn't mattered in a decade."

I allowed the silence to stretch. When I spoke at last, both women leaned in. "Perhaps she matters more than any of us understand yet."

I moved away before they could ask anything else. I slipped in among some group of nobles who all wore the same stiff smiles. Their uneasy eyes kept eyeing the doors, and I took note of each one as I passed. The Everclaws were there. It was no news that their son had humiliated the King's new mate only hours earlier, and now he looked as though he wished the floor would open and swallow him whole. Then there were the Duskmoors. Their daughter, Everleigh, held her chin high, too proud to admit how badly tonight had ruined her family's plans. The Thornwoods were there too, along with the Graves. Face after face, each one was a thread I could pull if I chose to.

I found Roderic near the platform. He folded his arms as he watched the crowd. His eyes held the same suspicion they always did whenever I was around.

"Your Lycan King left in quite a hurry," I said lightly.

"He had a reason to. A king protects his mate. Even one who doesn't yet want his protection." Roderic didn't look at me.

"Does she not want it?"

"She slapped him, Malrik. I imagine that answers your question."

I laughed softly. "A spirited woman. Kael always did prefer a challenge."

Roderic finally turned to me. His eyes were cold. "Be careful how you speak of her."

"I meant no disrespect." I gave him a slight bow. "Only an observation, old friend." My smile didn't waver. 

He said no more, and I did not push it. I walked away before he could read anything else from my face. Roderic was known to be observant and quick-thinking. I would need to tread carefully around him and patience has always been my greatest weapon.

I stayed till the last guests began to leave, until the candles went out and the exhausted orchestra ceased playing. I smiled as I said goodbye to each guest and accepted every congratulation meant for my brother.

By the time I reached my chambers, the sky outside my window had changed into a deep blue. A few stars still dotted the sky above the palace towers. I closed the door quietly and stood there for a moment, listening to my breathing.

My mate.

Kael's words from earlier replayed in my head till an unpleasant thought set in.  If Kael had a mate now and their bond became strong, if the girl proved loyal to him before I could, my chance to fight him would shrink with every passing month. I can't wait for an opportunity to appear. I would have to create one.

I strode to my desk and lit a candle. Its small flame trembled then steadied. I took out two sheets of parchment and began to write. My hand was already moving before I had fully decided what to say.

The first letter was for a contact in Duskmoor territory. He owed me a debt he would never fully be able to repay and had access to nobles who were bitter to listen to my ideas. I made sure my words were unclear. I wasn't making accusations yet. Rather, I was planting the first seed of doubt. A doubt about the King's sudden choice to claim an unknown and untested girl. I signed the letter with a mark instead of my name.

Only my most trusted contacts would recognize it.

The second letter took longer. My hand paused over the parchment then I forced myself to continue. This one was for an envoy from a rival kingdom. A man who had waited patiently for years for the kind of weakness a new and untested mate could create. I chose my words with care in this letter. I didn't offer anything here but only suggested that Silverfang's throne had become vulnerable in ways it hadn't been for more than a decade.

I sealed both letters with plain wax. No crest or mark that could connect them to the prince who had smiled so warmly at his brother's happiness only hours earlier. Then I called for one of the few servants I trusted and placed the letters in his hands.

"Ride before sunrise," I ordered. "Deliver these secretly and don't speak of this errand to anyone."

He bowed and left. When he was gone, I sat alone and watched the candle burn. Aurelia Ashthorne was a girl without a title, powerful allies, or any influence the court could see. But the way Kael had gazed at her and the way the ballroom had fallen silent when she slapped him and survived confirmed that she was not nothing. Before this ended, she would become one of two things; my brother's greatest strength…the one thing that could make him impossible to defeat, or the crack in his armor that would give me a way in after eleven years of waiting.

I intended to decide which one she would become.

The first pale light of dawn had not yet reached the horizon, but on the roads leading away from Silverfang, two riders delivered my words to the men who would read them and begin to take action.