The Heartwood

Chapter 2 The Placeholder Truth

The coronation bells rang through the stone halls. I crossed the stronghold with Caleb’s promise keeping pace in my head.

Pack families filled every passage leading to the Great Hall. Children carried winter flowers, and warriors wore ceremonial silver over their uniforms.

Several bowed as I passed. I returned each greeting because none of them knew I had spent the night with a bandage under my sleeve.

Voices came through the antechamber door before I reached the Great Hall. Elder Maeve was speaking to Caleb.

“Are you certain? Elara has fed this pack with her lifeblood. The Luna’s crown is hers by bond and sacrifice.”

Caleb laughed.

“Sacrifice is her function. Her bloodline sustains the Heartwood and the wards. She is a resource mate, Maeve. Do you expect me to give my heart to a tool?”

I stopped with my hand near the latch.

Maeve lowered her voice. “And Lily?”

“Lily is the woman I choose. Elara is a duty I inherited.”

The last bell faded. Someone inside called the assembly to order.

For three years, Caleb had accepted every benefit of my blood and called the arrangement a bond. At least now he had used the right word. Tool.

I opened the doors.

Hundreds of Bloodmoon wolves turned toward me. I crossed the Great Hall and took my place beside the twin thrones.

Caleb waited in full Alpha regalia, the Luna’s crown held between his hands. Its silver frame and moonstones carried years of my magic.

My empty throne had been dressed in white wolf fur. A ceremonial cup waited on the step below it, filled with wine Caleb and I were supposed to share after the vows.

Someone had even placed my winter flowers beside the cup.

He faced the pack. “Today we strengthen Bloodmoon. An Alpha protects those who cannot protect themselves.”

Lily stood in the front row, pale beneath the white silk of my bonding robe.

Caleb continued. “A curse is draining her life. Our lore offers one cure. On the head of someone in need, the Luna’s crown can carry life into her body.”

A woman near me caught her breath. Elder Maeve shut her eyes.

Caleb walked past my throne and stopped in front of Lily. He knelt and raised the crown.

“For the good of the pack, I give her this blessing.”

The crown settled on Lily’s head.

Moonstones blazed. They drew on the power I had fed them, and color returned to her face. She looked down at Caleb with wet, shining eyes.

The pull reached the cut under my sleeve. Warmth left my wrist and traveled across the hall into the crown. Lily’s back straightened as mine hit the carved edge of the throne.

Cheers broke around them.

“A noble Alpha!”

“All praise to Caleb!”

Then people began to look at me. Some offered pity. Others waited for me to make a scene that would excuse what Caleb had done.

Across the hall, he gave me a cautious smile. He wanted my silence and the next offering to the Heartwood.

I nodded once. “I understand.”

His shoulders loosened.

I left the hall while the cheering continued. The whispers started only after the doors closed behind me.

My hand settled on the silver dagger at my belt. Its hilt had warmed against my palm during every blood offering. Tonight it would serve me instead.

I passed my chambers without going in. The torchlit stairs led down toward the Heartwood, the place where every lie Caleb told aboveground had been paid for.

The silver dagger knocked against my hip with each step. Caleb had named my place in Bloodmoon. I was done filling it.