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The girls nodded and left me in the bathroom; the door to my quarters clicked closed behind them. I sighed then stepped out of my robe and tied my hair into a bun atop my head. Only after soaking in the hot water did I realize how stressed I was—how tension coiled my muscles tight and made my breath come shallow. I closed my eyes and tipped my head back against the rim of the tub. One long inhale. One long exhale.
Then the tears started to flow.
I was so overwhelmed. So confused. Just hours before I’d been in the king’s bed, wrapped up in him, lost in the magic of his touch and his kiss. My wolf had believed him when he’d said we could live however briefly in a world without politics. Where he wasn’t the king. But that wasn’t possible—he’d made that clear. He didn’t care about me. He was willing to sacrifice Griffin to prove it.
Griffin was a fool for coming here—but the king was being outright cruel.
Cruel. That was how he got the throne, that was how he ran the Choice, and that was how he was going to prove his dominance to Griffin. It was pointless. It was peacocking. And I wasn’t going to let it happen. I wasn’t going to let this challenge stand.
I rinsed my face in the warm water of the bath, washing the tears from my face. Wallowing would get me nowhere.
Then a brisk knock sounded at the door. It was so late it was nearly morning. I hoped it was one of the maidservants, back with a cup of tea, or something sweet to soothe my pain a bit before I tried to catch a few hours of sleep. I stepped out of the bath and pulled my robe back around me, then padded to the door.
When I opened it, though, it wasn’t my maidservants across on the other side of the threshold. It was the king—looking just as tired as I felt, with a concerned pinch in his brow. Different than the angry, cocky king I’d dealt with before. More like the man I’d been with in his quarters. My wolf warmed immediately to his presence but I was still cold. Just because he looked worried about me now didn’t change anything about the decisions he’d made.
He reached for me, and I took a step back. “What are you doing here?” I asked. “I—I thought I made it clear I don’t want to see you.”
His dark eyes tracked over my body like a touch. I tugged my robe closed tighter, ignoring the rush of warmth that ran through me. With the space between us, he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. I wrapped my arms protectively around myself.
“You should leave,” I said.
“I needed to see you,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“You couldn’t sleep?” I scoffed. “This is your fault.”
“I meant what I said,” the king said. “You are the winner of the Choice. You will be my queen. After tonight, how could I think otherwise? I know you felt the connection between us, too.”
Connection. That was one way of putting it. His tongue darted out to wet his lower lip, and I couldn’t help but track the motion, and the memory of that mouth on me.
“That doesn’t matter,” I said. “I could never be queen to a king so callous. So thoughtless.”
“You think I have been thoughtless throughout this Choice?” He narrowed his eyes.
“I think you have been thoughtless in accepting this challenge,” I snapped.
“All I did was accept,” he said. Again a mix of interest and amusement flashed in his eyes. “Shouldn’t the blame rest on the man who offered the challenge in the first place?”
I blinked hard, fighting back tears again. How could Griffin be so stupid? After a long moment, I said, “Just don’t go through with it. Call off the challenge, and I’ll be your queen.”
“I can’t do that,” he said, with something in his voice that almost sounded like regret.
“Why not?” I demanded. “You’re king!”
“And the rules of a king are different than the rules of a mate,” he said. “A king cannot back out of a challenge. To do so is to display weakness. What else would I do—punish your Griffin unfairly? Put him in the stocks? I can’t send him back to Daybreak when he’s so audaciously brought soldiers to my doorstep. Word would travel.”
“What do you care about words?” I asked. “Is your reputation more important than a wolf’s life?”
“It’s not my reputation I’m concerned about. If other wolves hear they can issue a challenge without consequence, they’ll circle like vultures. I will not put my subjects at risk of invasion because your little boyfriend thought he could challenge me.” He shook his head. “The honorable thing is to accept. I know the rules of Nightfall don’t appeal to you, but I adhere to them. I’m an honorable king.”
“There’s nothing honorable about cold-blooded murder,” I said. “Griffin doesn’t know what he asks.”
“I can’t do anything about that,” the king said. “He has issued the challenge.”
The worst part of all of this was a small part of me knew the king was right. It was bad enough for Daybreak’s reputation that Griffin had come here at all. The only thing worse for our pack would be Griffin turned into a laughingstock. At least if Griffin failed the challenge, it would be with honor.
And I could redeem my pack if I became queen.
If I became queen. Was I really considering it?
