CALLUM’S POV

I had watched them from the corridor window.

Riven had pulled her slightly aside from the main path, close enough to the entrance that I could see them but far enough that I couldn’t hear. I watched his face while he talked and I watched hers while she listened.

This was normal, wasn’t it? I was just looking out for a member of my pack.

Dane appeared beside me. "You’re staring." He said quietly.

"I’m observing them, nothing else." I said.

He said nothing.

Riven was saying something and Keisha had her arms crossed and her chin slightly up the way she did when she was being patient about something. I couldn’t read her lips from here. I thought about going down to them. I thought about finding a reason to walk past them. I thought about several different ways I could reasonably insert myself into whatever was happening on that path.

But no. I stayed at the window.

"He’s making her an offer." Dane crossed his arms.

"How do you know?" I said.

"His hands." He jutted his chin. "The way he’s holding them. He’s presenting something."

I looked at Riven’s hands.

Dane was right.

I pushed off the window frame and went downstairs and came out through the side entrance.

Just a little sneak—

"Alpha Callum."

I stopped suddenly.

Vanessa was coming toward me from the direction of the east gardens with her coat buttoned and her hair neat and an expression of pleasant surprise that was practiced enough that I noticed.

"I’ve been hoping to run into you." She said warmly. "I feel like we haven’t had a proper chance to talk since the lunch. Everything has been so busy." She smiled. "Could I steal a few minutes?"

I looked past her toward the path.

Keisha and Riven were too far now. I couldn’t hear anything.

I looked back at Vanessa. "Of course." I nodded. "There’s a table near the south garden. We can sit outside."

She looked pleased. "Perfect."

We sat at the small iron table near the hedge and one of the maids appeared quickly with tea.

I sat across from Vanessa and looked at her, a blank look on my face. Might as well talk to her properly.

"Tell me about yourself." I said. "Properly. Not the version you gave us at the meeting, I feel like I don’t know much about you."

She looked slightly surprised. Then she smiled. "What would you like to know?"

"Anything." I shrugged. "Start anywhere."

She started talking.

She talked about growing up in her father’s pack which was smaller than Ashveil and more conservative and she had always felt slightly too big for it, her words. She talked about being the eldest of four and the expectations that came with that. She talked about her studies in pack law and her time spent apprenticing under a regional mediator and how she had always assumed she would build a career before anything else.

"And then?" I asked.

"And then my father mentioned the opportunity." She said as she wrapped both hands around her tea cup. "He was very—" She searched for the word. "Enthusiastic about it."

"Elder Declan." I raised a brow.

"Yes." She said. "He and Elder Osric have known each other a long time apparently." She said it smoothly.

"Good friends?" I said. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"I believe so." She nodded. "I don’t know the details of it."

She looked at me with a small smile that said I was asking too many questions.

"Were you given a choice?" I said. "About coming here."

She paused. "Of course." She said. "I chose to come."

"But it was suggested." I replied.

"Strongly suggested." She agreed and she smiled slightly. "You’re very direct."

"I’ve found it saves time." I leaned back.

She looked at her tea. "My father felt it was a good opportunity for our family." She said. "For our pack’s standing in the region. And I—" She paused. "I was curious."

"About what?" I said.

"About you." She said simply and looked at me. "You’ve been Alpha for sixteen years. You’ve kept this pack stable through things that have broken larger packs. You don’t have a Luna and the pack is still functioning." She tilted her head. "I wanted to understand how."

"And have you?" I asked. "Understood it?"

She looked at me for a moment. "I’m starting to." She said.

I held her gaze. "Right. Do continue."

She talked more. About her childhood, about a horse she had as a girl that she still thought about, about a trip she had taken once to the northern territories and how the landscape had stayed with her. She was good at talking. She made it feel like conversation when it was actually just performance.

And I let her perform, because why not? I knew what she was doing.

I thought I saw Keisha crossing the far path at some point and turned my head slightly.

"ㅡand the northern sky in winter is completely different from anything you see down here." Vanessa was saying. "Have you been?"

I looked back at her. "Once." I said simply. "A long time ago."

"You should go again." She smiled. "It changes the way you think about space." She smiled. "About what’s possible."

I looked at her blankly and her smile faltered.

"Tell me about yourself." She changed the subject. "You’ve let me talk for twenty minutes and said almost nothing."

"I’ve said things." I told her.

"Careful things." She laughed. "Tell me something real."

I looked at the hedge then back at her.

"I had a wife." I crossed my arms. "She died eight years ago."

Her expression shifted into something appropriately sympathetic. "I’m sorry." She said. "I heard it was sudden."

"It was." I nodded.

"Were you—" She paused. "Were you happy? Together."

"Yes." I said simply.

She nodded slowly. "That makes it harder I think." She muttered. "When it was good and then it’s gone."

"It does." I agreed.

She looked at me with those careful eyes. "How did she die? If you don’t mind me asking."

I looked at her directly. "I killed her." I said.

Her smile dropped instantly and I saw confusion mixed with panic flash in her eyes.

Her hands tightened around her cup. "Excuse me?" She stared at me and I watched the color change in her face.

I let it sit there for a moment.

"That’s what the rumors say." I said and I kept my voice completely even. "That I killed her. There are packs that believe it." I picked up my tea. "I thought you should hear it directly rather than from someone else."

She stared at me and her hands were slightly unsteady on the cup now.

"I see." She said, her voice very controlled.

"It’s not true of course." I shrugged. "She died of an illness. But rumors have a life of their own and I’ve found it’s better to address them directly." I looked at her pleasantly. "Wouldn’t you agree?"

She looked at me for a long moment. Then she set her cup down. "Of course." She said. "Thank you for telling me." She stood, smoothing the front of her coat. "I should get back. I promised Elder Osric I’d attend his afternoon reading session." She smiled and it was the worst smile she had produced yet. "Thank you for the tea."

She walked away.

I watched her go.

Her pace was slightly faster than it had been when we sat down and her shoulders were hunched.

I sat there with my tea and thought about the fear that had moved through her face when I said I killed her and what exactly it said about her that the thing she most believed was the worst possible version.

She wasn’t here to become my Luna.

I had known that.

But now I also knew she was afraid of me.

That was useful and way much better.