Chapter 2

Darius didn't come to my cottage until late the following afternoon. He was dressed in formal black, as though the ceremony had never ended.

By then, my travel case lay open on the bed. A copy of the notice I had sent to the Northern Court rested beside it.

He entered without knocking.

"You embarrassed me before the entire pack."

"You rejected me before the entire pack."

He exhaled as if I were the one being unreasonable. "The marriage is political. It doesn't have to change what we are in private."

I stared at him. "You want Seraphine as your public Luna and me as what?"

"My true mate. I don't love her."

"You put her son in the place meant for our children."

"We don't have children." His expression hardened. "Leo is here. The council respects him. He solves a problem now."

Whatever explanation I had hoped to hear died with that sentence.

Darius reached for my face. I stepped away.

"Give me one year," he said. "Once the eastern alliance is secure, I can reconsider the arrangement."

"You already made your choice."

"And where will you go?" His voice carried the same calm certainty I had once mistaken for strength. "You have no family, no title, and no territory outside Blackridge. Don't destroy your only home because your pride is hurt."

I closed my travel case.

"Move."

He caught my wrist. "I am still your Alpha. You will stay."

His command struck the room like a pressure wave. The windows shook, and the lamp flame bent toward him.

My wolf braced, but she did not bow. House Vale had never sworn allegiance to Blackridge.

"Let go."

His fingers opened.

Darius stared at his hand. "Why didn't that work?"

I reached for the coat at the foot of the bed. The healer's report slipped from its pocket and landed at his feet.

Darius picked it up and read it twice. When he finally looked at me, his face had gone pale.

"Twins." His voice fell to a whisper. His gaze dropped to my stomach. "They're mine."

I took the report from his hand. "You'd already chosen another heir."

His thumb pressed into the edge of the paper.

"We won't announce this yet. Leo will remain heir until we know whether one of the twins is a boy. If there is a son, I can bring the matter before the council."

I waited for him to ask whether the babies were healthy, or how I was feeling.

The questions never came.

A carriage stopped outside.

A moment later, Seraphine entered with a folder of wedding contracts. Leo hovered in the doorway behind her.

"The council has been waiting for you," she told Darius.

Then she saw the healer's seal.

Her eyes moved from the report to my stomach. "She's pregnant."

She crossed the room and reached for the paper. Darius moved it beyond her grasp as Leo appeared behind her.

"The announcement still stands," Darius said. "Lyra chose not to tell me before the ceremony."

I almost laughed.

He had hidden a wedding, rejected me publicly, and now spoke as if one afternoon of silence were the real betrayal.

In less than a minute, he had decided when the pack would learn about my pregnancy and what place my children would have in his family. He still hadn't asked what I wanted.

"You promised Leo would be your uncontested heir," Seraphine said.

"He will be," Darius replied. "For now."

Seraphine went still.

I took the Vale ring from my pocket and slid it onto my finger.

She recognized the crest first. "Where did you get that?"

A silver horn sounded from the northern road.

Darius looked from my ring to the court seal on the copy beside my travel case.

"Gray was my mother's name," I said. "My real name is Lyra Vale."

A second horn answered, close enough to rattle the windows. Through the glass, I saw six riders bearing the banners of the Northern Court enter the yard.

They had received my notice.

I lifted my travel case.

"You were right about one thing, Darius. Blackridge is not my home."