Page 17 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

There were rumbles of discontent all around the table, but there was no real edge to it. Dane described a reality we were all familiar with, even if we didn’t want to be.

“But a queen, she has power, even if she’s never really exercised it in the recent past.” Dane’s focus shifted to me and now I knew exactly how Gael had felt, because everyone’s eyes landed on me. “There’s nothing in the constitution to show that her powers have become limited since the last wolf queen abdicated.” He grinned then, the first moment of lightness this morning, it felt. “I checked. The queen was the power in this land, not the king. She had a pack of consorts to support her, protect her, but…”

“You could direct the army,” Axe said, obviously warming to the topic.

“You could deploy them to protect the outer villages. You could organise an actual refugee camp within the city.” Weyland said, his words getting faster and faster. “You could—”

“And to do that, she has to kill your mother.”

Gael’s words were a splash of cold water on all this fervour, and not for the first time did I think he was the right person to take as my first official mate. I looked across at him, seeing past the scars and his eye, to the man beneath. He knew what this meant, this kind of brutality and as he took my hand and squeezed it, I knew he didn’t want this for me. Because for his brothers, this was a largely academic issue. They’d fought on the battlefield and probably killed men doing it, but they hadn’t faced the unique brand of domestic terrorism that is family violence.

But he had.

Because when you strike out at them, finally standing up for yourself and pushing back, you hurt yourself. My father didn’t deserve to live. I wanted to say he was nothing to me, but… Even if I didn’t miss the man himself, I mourned the loss of the idea. Of having a father who might stand by my side right now, be a reassuring presence. Tell me I was strong, strong enough to bear this. Prove to me that I could. I shook my head slowly and then let out a sigh.

That sword at Aurora’s throat. It’d felt so bloody perfect, right in that moment. The steel was an extension of my will and when I cut her, made her bleed, I felt like I was going some way towards cutting her poisonous influence out of our lives. But now… I should’ve known this would come at a cost. Everything always did.

“Your Highness,” Fenster said, approaching Dane’s side. “A contingent from the Wolf Maidens is here.”

I frowned at that, then turned around to see Selene, Ayla, and Orsha walking into the dining hall, making a beeline for us.

“I like what you’ve done with the old place,” Selene said, sketching a mocking little bow for Dane. Her keen eyes seemed to take in everything and everyone, and that made me bristle.

“And what can I do for you, Alpha?” Dane asked her.

“As you know, the Maidens are sworn to ensure the safety of each monarch,” she replied.

“Yet I see neither my mother nor father here.”

“No, but during a challenge, Queen Aurora and Darcy are both potential queens. We’re here to ensure Darcy’s safety up until the dark of the moon.”

A light flashed in Dane’s eyes, then he smiled.

“You’re here to train with my mate.”

“If that’s what she requires of us, then of course, that’s what we will do,” Selene replied in an overly conciliatory tone before winking at me. “Until the challenge takes place, we are her servants.”

“You need to train with them,” Dane said, real urgency bleeding into his voice. “You are obviously skilled with blades and bow, but that’s not the same as a duel. None of this will matter if you fail, you know that, right?”

“Because your mate will die by another’s hand, just as many of our people have?” Annis said.

Dane stared at her then with an intensity I would’ve found difficult to bear, but she did.

“Just so, Annis. So we must work together to find a viable solution with the resources we have. Darcy needs to work with the Maidens to ensure she can get us access to more.”

I rose then, feeling an invisible weight on my shoulders as I did so, but was it the crown I had dreamt of before, or something else? Selene’s hand replaced it, landing on my arm and giving it a squeeze.

“You’ll be fine if you train with us. There’s no predicting the outcome of a duel—”

“But you’re fast, skilled, and strong,” Ayla said with a welcome smile. “And some of that is more than Aurora can say.”

“Queen Aurora,” Selene corrected mildly, steering me out of the hall. “We show respect until such time the goddess has declared one of the queens the winner. In this case, respect manifests in the form of making sure you are prepared for the final duel.”

“Something others of your number are doing for the queen?” I asked, glancing up at the Maiden’s alpha.

“Other members of our order,” she agreed with a nod. “Junior members with little experience, but Maidens still.” As I stared, she smiled. “Up until recently, the queen of Strelae was the alpha of our pack, the one who would lead us into battle in Strelae’s defence when required. It’s a practice that has fallen out of favour, but we are determined to revive it.”

“I could lead a force of you against the Reavers?” I asked, my breath catching in my chest. There weren’t that many Maidens, but for some reason in my head I could see another great mass of wolves, this time at my back, not the Morrigan’s.

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