Chapter Ten
706 Words
I spotted Ronan near by the dais. He looked dangerous in black velvet, his eyes constantly scanning the crowd and his jaw locked tight. Looked like a coiled spring just waiting to snap.
When his eyes swept over my direction, I stepped behind a massive stone pillar, my heart racing.
I didn't stay hidden for long. I slipped over to the service side of the room, right where the human diplomats from the five chiefdoms were all crowding together.
Corvin was there.
Seeing him felt like swallowing glass.
He was laughing at something a diplomat said, looking exactly like the future Chief he had betrayed me to become.
I approached the group, my veil pulled low.
"Chief Corvin," I murmured, my voice disguised by a raspy tone I practiced.
He turned, his smile fading into a look of irritation. "Who are you? Do I know you?"
"I am a traveler," I said, leaning in closer as my voice dropped to a whisper.
"I have news from the Edevane borders. News about the territory deed your father was so desperate to secure."
Corvin’s eyes narrowed, he wanted to hear this, "What kind of news?"
"The kind that suggests your new alliance with the Thorneclaw pack, is completely fake." I lied smoothly.
"I hear the Thorneclaw Alpha has already promised that territory to someone else."
Corvin’s face went from being annoyed to being completely, deeply suspicious. He was greedy and deeply insecure— I knew that better than anyone else on earth.
I watched with grim satisfaction as he looked across the room toward Wren, his posture became tense.
I hadn't just spoken; I had planted a seed of doubt in the most susceptible mind in the room.
As I turned to leave, a hand caught my arm. I froze immediately, my muscles tensing to strike.
"You have a dangerous tongue for a traveler," a deep voice purred.
I turned. It was Ronan.
I could see the heat in his eyes, a total mix of possessiveness and recognition. He leaned down, his lips barely grazing my ear, and his scent of pine and earth flooded my senses.
"You shouldn't be here, Devlin," he growled, though his hand still remained firmly, possessively on my waist.
"You are not safe."
"I was never safe, Ronan," I whispered, pulling a little so I could look him in the eyes. "But for the first time, I’m the one doing the hunting."
He stared at me for a second, the surprise on his face was clear, giving way to a slow, not so nice smile.
He realized, in that moment, that the girl he’d pulled from the auction block was no longer just his mate.
I was his weapon.
The tension in the Great Hall continued heavy and alive.
Ronan’s hand remained anchored to my waist, a steady, burning weight that held me fast while the world around dissolved into a chaotic blur of silk and wolves.
"If Aldric catches just your scent, you won't survive long enough to run, not even having something to bury."
Ronan murmured, his words a low, dark vibration against my skin.
He subtly shifted his body, shielding me from the watchful dais with the aid of his broad shoulders.
"Then we had better make sure he's looking the other way." I said, forcing my voice to stay steady as my heart beat fast.
Across the room, the seed I had planted was already bearing bitter fruit. Corvin was no longer laughing, everything about his countenance changed.
He stood stiffly beside the human diplomats, watching Wren with a sharp, ugly calculation.
He checked his pocket—probably making sure the forged papers or his father's seal were still there, before heading straight through the crowd toward her.
Ronan looked where I was looking as well. His eyes narrowing steadily as he watched the human future Chief approch the Alpha's daughter.
"What did you say to him?" Ronan asked me.
"I bravely told him his prize was a lie," I whispered, smiling coldly beneath my veil.
"Corvin loves to betray people, but he can't handle being betrayed himself, haha, his turn has finally arrived."
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