Chapter 13 - We Meet Again

King Mahl stands glaring at us, his whole body tensed with the effort of not transforming into his wolf and leaping at us. I feel my breath come short in my chest, terrified despite Auden’s assurance that he will quickly get this under control.

Mahl’s eyes are fixed on me and I can see the threat in the steady flame burning there, the tension in each of his muscles. He immediately suspects betrayal and he’s ready to make me pay for it, no questions asked.

That’s how Mahl rules, after all: by making sure that everyone knows that he can rip those who betray him to shreds and that he’s ready to do it at the barest whiff of disloyalty. 

The threat feels very real to me as we stop our horses a few feet from the King and Auden swings his leg over his horse’s saddle, dropping easily to the ground. Auden turns to Mahl, taking his horse’s bridle in his hand and giving the King a short bow. “Father,”