Chapter 8 - The Queen’s Command
The remaining northern raiders dropped their weapons immediately, throwing themselves flat onto the blood-soaked floorboards, weeping and begging for mercy.
The surviving territory lords—Lord Varner among them—stood near the high windows, their bodies covered in sweat and blood, staring at Caleb and Mara in absolute, speechless awe.
The battle was over.
The silence that settled over the council chamber was deafening.
Caleb turned around slowly. The golden fire in his eyes was fading back into stormy gray, but his breathing was heavy, his chest heaving as he looked across the room at Mara.
Mara stood near the tapestry, her right arm still bleeding steadily, her face pale from sudden blood loss.
Caleb walked over to her, his heavy boots making wet sounds on the red floorboards.
He stopped inches from her, dropped his broadsword onto the stone, and knelt before her on both knees.
The four surviving territory lords gasped in unison.
An Alpha King never knelt before anyone. It was an absolute rule of the western territories—a law carved into stone for twelve generations.
Yet Caleb Voss knelt on the blood-stained floor, lifted Mara’s bleeding right arm with extreme gentleness, and tore a strip of clean linen from his own tunic to wrap firmly around her wound.
“You saved me again,” Caleb whispered, his voice thick with emotion as he tied the knot over her cut.
“We saved each other,” Mara replied softly, her hand resting on his dark hair.
Lord Varner stepped forward, wiping a smear of blood from his silver beard. He looked at Mara, then looked at Caleb kneeling at her feet.
“She is White Ash,” Varner said quietly, his voice devoid of his earlier aggression. “The old bloodline. The cleansers.”
Caleb stood up, keeping his arm firmly around Mara’s waist to support her weight.
“Yes,” Caleb announced, his gray eyes locking onto Varner and the remaining lords. “She is Mara Ellison. She carries the gift of the ancient healers. And as of this morning, she carries my blood in her veins.”
Lord Varner looked at Mara’s glowing golden eyes, then dropped to one knee, lowering his head in solemn respect.
The three other territory lords followed immediately, kneeling on the stone floor before the human woman who had just brought down an invading army with a few drops of her own blood.
“Hail the Alpha Queen,” Varner declared loudly, his voice echoing through the ruined hall.
Mara looked at the kneeling lords, then up at Caleb’s strong, scarred face.
She felt no fear now. The decades of running, hiding, and living in shadows as a helpless nobody had dissolved in the smoke of the battle.
She pressed her hand against Caleb’s chest, feeling his heart beating in perfect, absolute harmony with her own.
“What about Nolan Creed?” Mara asked softly.
May you like
Caleb’s eyes turned cold as mountain ice.
“Nolan is in the dungeon,” Caleb said. “And it is time he answered to the Queen.”
