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“Her?” I ask, as if Sofia’s name hasn’t been pounding in my veins from the second I first saw her sitting on my bed.
“My mate.”
“Ah.Her. Well, then you should have come to fetch her this morning. Now she is asleep.”
He leans forward. “The Right of the First Night, by definition, applies only to the first night. You can’t keep her here.”
“And that’s why I will send her back as soon as she wakes up.” By now I know that it’s a lie, and he must suspect it, too. Sofia is not going anywhere. The certainty has been growing inside me like a weed, taking over every little empty corner.
Lennart flushes. “If you send her back with child…”
For a moment, the desire to slash his throat is so intense, I can almost smell the iron of his blood. “A cold Omega? With child? That’s not very likely, is it?”When Lennart’s expression twists into something carefully blank, I know I’ve struck a nerve. So I continue. “Then again, Sofia doesn’tsmellso cold lately. Maybe you haven’t had a chance to notice, but I’ve had plenty of opportunities to experience that change.”
Lennart stares, jaw so tense, it trembles. And that’s when I’m certain of it: he has done something to her. I don’t know how, and I don’t know why. But I do know what I am going to do to him once I finally figure it out.
“General,” he says, “when you accepted your mandate, you mentioned wanting to be just and equitable. Do you remember?”
I drum my fingers. “Vaguely.”
“Then explain to me how you went fromthatto violating my mate and killing my brother in cold blood, all because of this war between you and my father?—”
“I didn’t kill your brother in cold blood, Lennart.” It’s all I can do not to roll my eyes. “Ipunishedhim in a way that was appropriate and proportional to his infraction.” I lean forward, elbows over the table. “Youknowhe deserved it. House Larsen—no, the entire fuckingworld—is better without him.”
“You could have sent him to the prisons.”
“I could not. It was not a first offense, or a second, or even a third. After what he did to those Omegas, any other Alpha would not have been given a second chance. Why should your brother?—”
“Because he was aLarsen.”
There it is, loud and brazen as it echoes in the empty room. The reason I wish I’d slipped and ran my sword through Lennart and the rest of his family when he was a child.
I let the contempt I feel for him wash over me. Then I sit back, slowly take off my mask and smile. “You would like to be treated like a Larsen? Then, Lennart, that’s exactly what I will do.”
It’s a promise.
Chapter17
THE DECISION
Gabriel
Once Lennart leaves, my brother enters the room, and I don’t waste time with a preamble before announcing, “I’m keeping her.”
I feel remarkably serene about my choice. Sofia is not safe with any member of House Larsen. Just as importantly, I want her with me—now and at all times. The rest is just a matter of ironing out the details. Or of killing whoever won’t accept my decision.
Ivar, of course, disagrees. “Are you— You cannotkeepher, Gabriel. She’s not apet. It’s called the Right of theFirstNight, not the Right of However Fucking Long You Want to?—”
“I’m not going to return her,” I repeat.
Ivar takes a deep breath. Pinches the bridge of his nose. “We have a plan. A plan that involves provoking House Larsen into an insurrection while acting aboveboard, to convince the council to side with us. The plan doesn’t work if you give Lord Larsen alegitimatereason for a coup. You already stretched it by holding the girl one more night?—”
“I. Am. Keeping her.”
“For how long?”
I smile. “How long do you think?”
Ivar claws at his scalp, takes several steps away from where I sit, then abruptly turns around. “Tell you what.” He points his middle finger at me. “You give her the option. Tonight, you go to her and do…do whatever the fuck it is that you want.”
