5

Imprisoned for being too interesting

Anne

Five armed men were aiming arrows at me, Nathan could barely stay on his knees, and I was holding a dagger covered in his blood.

The scene didn’t exactly make me look innocent.

“I’m going to say this only once,” I warned, raising the knife. “If any of you come any closer, you’ll find out why we bakers use such sharp blades.”

The man in the center let out a laugh.

“You plan to take us on with a kitchen knife?”

“No,” I said, shrugging. “With this one. The kitchen knife was better balanced.”

Nathan growled in front of me.

His back broadened, and his fingernails turned back into claws. The fever was darkening his veins, but he was still trying to shield me with his body.

I didn’t know whether to consider it romantic or clear evidence of brain damage.

“Nathan, you can’t fight.”

“I can.”

“A minute ago, you were arguing with a tree.”

“The tree started it.”

Let me take control; trust me, Nina said.

No.

And to my misfortune, the attackers advanced.

Then the forest roared.

It wasn’t an animal.

It was dozens of boots pounding the ground, branches snapping, and orders shouted with a coordination that made the hooded men pale.

A shadow descended from the trees and knocked down the archer on the left. Then enormous wolves appeared among the tree trunks, followed by warriors dressed in black and silver.

Ravenshade.

The battle began without anyone having the courtesy to warn me.

An arrow whizzed past my head. I ducked and rolled behind a tree root while Nathan tried to get to his feet.

“Stay down,” I ordered.

“I’m the Alpha.”

“And I’m the woman with the knife. Today, we’re both in charge.”

An attacker lunged at me, and I didn’t think twice.

I threw the jar of honey in his face.

The man let out a scream and clutched his eyes.

“It’s sticky!”

“It was artisanal honey, you animal. You should be grateful.”

I struck his wrist with the hilt of the dagger. The bow fell, and one of the Ravenshade warriors knocked him down with his shoulder.

Nathan managed to get to his feet, though his body was swaying. An attacker tried to reach him from behind, and I threw the dagger at him. The blade missed the man, embedding itself in a tree half a meter away.

The attacker looked at the knife.

So did I.

“It was a warning,” I said, shrugging.

Nathan struck him before he could respond; his fist sent the man to the ground, but the effort caused Nathan to drop to one knee.

The leader of the hooded men stepped back when he saw his men were outmatched.

“The heiress must die before she can be claimed!”

Nathan raised his head.

His eyes were no longer gray; they were completely black.

The shadow beneath his feet spread like ink, seized the man’s ankles, and dragged him to the ground.

Nathan staggered forward.

“You will never speak her name again.”

The attacker smiled despite the blood in his mouth.

The attacker smiled despite the blood in his mouth.

“It’s already too late. The Court knows he crossed paths with you.”

Nathan tried to question him, but the man bit down on something hidden between his teeth.

His body shuddered, and seconds later, he stopped breathing.

“Poison,” I murmured.

One of the warriors knelt beside the corpse.

“Liquid silver capsule.”

The few remaining attackers fled into the forest. The wolves of Ravenshade gave chase.

Silence returned, carrying the scent of blood, crushed leaves, and spilled honey.

A tall warrior approached Nathan.

“Alpha.”

His dark hair was pulled back at the nape of his neck, and a scar ran across his eyebrow. His gaze swept over Nathan’s wound and the black veins and then settled on me.

Then on the dagger still lodged in the tree.

Suspicion flashed across his face with almost offensive speed.

“Step away from him,” the warrior snapped.

“I’m trying to keep him from dying.”

“You have his blood on your hands.”

I looked at my fingers.

“Because I pulled an arrow out of his shoulder. Not because I served him up with sauce.”

Two more warriors surrounded me.

Nathan tried to speak.

“Cassian…”

The one with the scar, who I assumed was Cassian, knelt in front of him.

“Don’t strain your voice.”

“Anne… she saved me.”

Cassian looked at me immediately.

“Anne Marlowe?”

“It depends. Are you going to thank me or chain me up?”

His silence was an unpromising answer.

A woman with a medical bag came running over and began examining Nathan.

“The poison is spreading,” she said. “We need to get him to the fortress.”

“The mixture slowed it down,” I explained. “Alcohol, honey, and yarrow.”

The woman looked at the paste on the wound.

“Who made this?” she asked.

“I did.”

“Are you a healer?”

“A baker,” I said proudly.

The woman blinked.

“Naturally.”

Nathan growled again.

His body tensed, and his claws extended fully. The warriors stepped back.

“Alpha!” Cassian shouted.

Nathan moved with brutal speed.

He knocked Cassian aside with a single blow and positioned himself between them and me. His teeth had grown. The shadow swirled around his legs like smoke.

“Nathan,” I said carefully.

He turned toward me, and for a second I feared he wouldn’t recognize me.

Then he took a deep breath, and his wolf calmed down enough not to attack.

“Mate,” he growled with certainty.

The word echoed across the clearing.

All the warriors froze.

Cassian closed his eyes briefly, like a man who’d just received a bill that was far too high.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

Nathan bared his fangs at him.

“Stupid question,” I muttered.

He reached out a hand toward me. I barely managed to grab it before his legs gave out.

I held him up as best I could.

“Nathan!”

His body slumped against mine.

Cassian and another warrior managed to pull him away before he crushed me completely.

“He’s unconscious,” said the healer.

“Excellent observation,” I replied. “Do you also charge for identifying trees?”

The woman shot me a sharp look.

“I’m Orla, chief healer of Ravenshade.”

“Anne, chief pastry chef of nowhere.”

Cassian raised his hand.

“Enough already!”

“I agree. Let’s take Nathan somewhere where there aren’t any assassins.”

Cassian looked at the dagger, then at Nathan.

“First we need to figure out what happened.”

“We were shot at. He stepped in front of me. I healed him. You guys showed up too late. End of mystery,” I said matter-of-factly.

A warrior approached, holding a metal tablet.

“Commander, an official communication has arrived.”

The tablet glowed with blue runes. Cassian took it and read silently, then his face hardened.

“What does it say?” I asked, and he looked at me seriously, so I had a bad feeling. “I love it when important men read important documents and then pretend I’m not there.”

Cassian looked up.

“It’s an order from the Willow Creek Council.”

“How quick. My parents couldn’t reply to a message in less than three days, but when it came to accusing me, they found administrative efficiency.”

The warrior activated the plaque.

A solemn voice echoed through the clearing.

“By order of the Alpha and the Willow Creek Council, Anne Marlowe is charged with theft of strategic magic, assault against a political representative, and conspiracy to bring about a forbidden union with Alpha Nathan Blackstone.”

I was speechless.

“Theft of what?”

The voice continued.

“The accused left the territory with information, formulas, and capabilities registered as strategic assets of Willow Creek.”

“My recipes don’t belong to anyone!” I exclaimed with a growl.

“Her relocation alongside the enemy Alpha constitutes a potential violation of the Neutral Blood Clause. Ravenshade must hand her over to the authorities, and Alpha Blackstone must publicly renounce the bond before the deadline expires.”

The screen went dark.

I looked at Cassian.

“I left with a bag of herbs and a torn dress. If that counts as espionage, Willow Creek needs better secrets.”

Cassian didn’t smile.

“The treaty obligates Ravenshade to respond.”

Two warriors lifted the Alpha and placed him on a makeshift stretcher. Orla began administering another concoction.

I stepped forward, but Cassian blocked my way.

“You can’t go with him.”

“I know what he took and how he reacted.”

“You’re also accused of trying to kill him,” another warrior snapped.

“And the fact that he has an arrow in his back and five dead bodies around him doesn’t give you a clue?”

Cassian clenched his jaw.

“Until Nathan wakes up, you’ll be treated as a suspect.”

“Suspect or prisoner?”

The sound of chains answered for him.

A warrior pulled out a pair of silver handcuffs.

I stepped back.

“No!”

“It’s protocol.”

“It was also protocol for my family to ignore an affair to protect a treaty. Today, I’m not following protocol.”

The warrior stepped forward, and I lifted my chin.

“Touch me without permission, and you’ll find out just how many bones a pastry chef knows.”

Cassian sighed.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Excellent. Now we have something in common.”

She looked at the unconscious Nathan.

“If she tries to escape, the council might interpret it as the Alpha helping her. That would make his position worse.”

I hated that it made sense, but I remembered that Nathan saved my life.

I held out my hands.

“For the record, this ruins everything.”

You’re insane, Nina said angrily.

The handcuffs snapped shut around my wrists.

The silver produced an immediate burning sensation. Not unbearable, but enough to remind me that all political systems seemed designed by people who hated comfort.

We set off northward.

Nathan was traveling in a medical wagon surrounded by warriors. I followed behind, chained and guarded by two men who avoided looking me in the eye.

“Do you have anything to eat?” I asked after an hour.

No one answered.

“I’m being accused of stealing magic, not snacks,” I said, and one of them handed me a dry bar; I took a bite and was disgusted. “This really should be illegal.”

Ravenshade Fortress came into view at dawn.

It was enormous, dark, and built atop a mountain, with black towers that seemed to pierce the clouds. Thousands of shadows covered the walls.

When we passed through the gates, the inhabitants came out to watch.

A group of councilors was waiting for us in the main courtyard. A gray-haired man with a narrow face held a scroll sealed with silver.

“Anne Marlowe,” he announced, “is hereby under arrest by order of the Silver Court.”

“I’d already figured that out from the handcuffs.”

The counselor opened the document.

“Maxwell—”

The man immediately cut Cassian off.

“Alpha Blackstone has twenty-four hours to fulfill one of the following conditions: hand her over to Willow Creek, publicly renounce her as his mate, or step down as leader of Ravenshade.”

I felt the air drain from the room.

I looked at the stretcher where Nathan still lay unconscious.

“What if he doesn’t wake up?”

Maxwell looked at me without emotion.

“Then the council will decide for him.”

The fortress gates closed behind me.

The sound echoed like a sentence.

Twenty-four hours.

Nathan had to hand me over, reject me, or lose everything.

And I still didn’t know if I wanted to be his mate.

We’re in deep trouble, Nina whispered before falling completely asleep.

Shit.