Chapter 1 - The Weight of Stone and Scars
The infirmary smelled of dried valerian and cold stone. Senna sat on the narrow cot, her fingers tracing the edge of the golden mark burning faintly against her skin. It pulsed like a heartbeat beneath her wrist—a constant, unwanted reminder that her life had just been upended by a beast she never asked to meet.
The door creaked open. Aldric stood in the threshold, his broad shoulders filling the frame, his dark hair falling slightly over a brow lined with tension. He looked less like a king in that moment and more like a predator caged by his own guilt.
"The healer says your ribs are healing," Aldric said, his deep voice vibrating in the small room. "Though she noted you tried to stand twice while she was out."
"I am not made of glass, Alpha," Senna replied, her voice steady, refusing to look away from his intense gaze. "In the Low Field, if you stay down, you starve. Bruised ribs are a luxury of time I do not possess."
Aldric stepped inside, closing the heavy oak door behind him. "Mard has been stripped of his primary council duties, pending a full inquiry. The council is in uproar. They claim a human cannot hold the title of Luna, let alone sit at the high table during trade negotiations."
Senna let out a cold, humorless laugh. "Let them roar. I came here to secure grain tariffs for my province, not to win a popularity contest among wolves who think brutality is a substitute for diplomacy."
Aldric’s jaw tightened. "The trade proposal you brought... I reviewed it last night. It is sharper than anything my own advisors drafted in a decade. You aren't just a clerk, Senna."
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"I am whatever survival required me to be," she said, sliding off the cot, wincing only slightly as her shoulder protested. "Now, are we going to discuss the grain, or are you here to stare at your glowing wrist and wonder how to undo a mistake?"
Aldric stepped closer, the sheer heat radiating off him undeniable. "My wolf does not make mistakes, Senna. And neither do I."
