Chapter 6

Elara's POV

Her daughter? My eyes moved from the woman to Aidan. Of course. Six years had passed. What had I expected, that his life had simply stopped after I disappeared?

"We don't need a nanny." She crossed the room, poured water into a glass, and held it to the child's lips. "I can take care of Asta myself."

Asta stirred. She swallowed a mouthful, frowned at the woman, and burrowed back into my neck.

***

Aidan's POV

Seraphina set down the glass and kept talking, but I barely heard her.

My attention stayed on the woman holding my daughter.

There was something unnervingly familiar about her eyes. Their shape tugged at a memory I'd spent years trying to bury, though the color was wrong, paler, almost silver-gray. No scars. No burns. Long white-blonde hair spilled over her shoulders, nothing like the woman I remembered.

And her scent. Jasmine, like the woman from that night, but mixed with strawberry and so faint I could barely catch it.

"You're a werewolf?" I asked the woman.

Her eyes lifted to mine. "Yes."

"Do you have a wolf?"

The smallest hesitation. "She never awakened."

That explained why her scent was weak. It didn't explain why I could barely smell her at all.

Varek?

My wolf stirred.

The door banged open. "Where's my patient?"

The doctor hurried in. The stranger laid Asta gently on the bed and stepped aside without a word, and I found myself watching her.

"Aidan, are you even listening?" Seraphina's voice cut through my thoughts. She stood with her arms crossed over her designer dress. "Why am I the last to know we have a new nanny? I wasn't even part of the interview."

That was Seraphina all over, controlling every detail. But I owed her five years of raising Asta as her own.

"You turned away every candidate this month," I said quietly. "Asta needs nanny now."

"But Aidan, I can handle..." Her expression softened.

I looked down at my daughter. Asta looked so fragile in the lamplight, her small chest rising and falling, the fever finally loosening its hold. Tonight she had scared me half to death.

Seraphina's fingers tightened on my sleeve, reclaiming my attention. "I'll make sure Asta is fine. You should go."

I glanced at her hand, then back at the stranger. Something was wrong. I just couldn't tell what.

I turned to the young maid hovering by the door. Felix, I thought his name was.

"Take her to the room she was assigned. Tell Cordelia I want her file on my desk. We'll sort out the rest tomorrow."

Felix nodded quickly. The woman stiffened.

Suddenly the door swung open again. Declan squeezed past the guards stationed outside the nursery and came toward me.

"Everything all right?" he asked quietly, glancing at the doctor bent over Asta. "You ran off so fast I had to make up excuses on the spot. Your father is already pacing the hall looking for you."

His gaze landed on the new nanny and lingered. He raised an appreciative eyebrow and smiled at her. "Hello, sweetheart. I'm Alpha Declan. And you are...?"

I gave him a cold look, grabbed his shoulder, and steered him back toward the door.

"Nobody. The Council is waiting."

We headed down the corridor, the music from the ceremony growing louder with every step.

Declan glanced at me. "Fine. But later, you're telling me who she is."

"There's nothing to tell."

"Sure."

We stepped back into the hall and made our way through the crowd toward my father and the Council.

My father didn't look at me. His expression was carefully blank. I knew that look. He was angry, and he'd wait until we were alone to say so.

One of the elders stepped forward.

"Now that Alpha Aidan has returned, we can continue."

Beside me, Declan had somehow acquired a glass of whiskey. I envied him.

"Five candidates have been approved by the Council," the elder announced. "With rogues pressing our borders, the realm cannot wait long for a new Lycan King."

He named them one by one.

"Alpha Thaddeus Valther."

Seraphina's father lifted his chin as if the crown were already his.

"Alpha Silas Hawthorne."

Rumor said he was the cruelest Lycan in the North. He raised his glass and smiled.

"Alpha Declan Blackwood. Alpha Ronan Vale. And Alpha Aidan Ashwood."

Applause rolled through the hall. I waited for it to fade.

"Those who intend to enter the succession trials and claim their right to the Crown, raise your hand."

Thaddeus's hand went up immediately. Silas followed. I raised mine.

Three.

I glanced sideways. Declan stood with one hand in his pocket and the whiskey in the other. His name was on that list, and his hand hadn't moved. Neither had Ronan's.

"Chicken," I muttered.

He took a slow sip. "I prefer alive and unmarried."

I almost smiled.

Behind us, the doors opened.

Seraphina crossed the hall, the crowd parting for her. Her father stood only a few yards away. She didn't go to him.

She stopped at my side, close enough that the message was impossible to miss. I noticed several lycans exchange looks. So did the Council.

"How is she?" I asked under my breath.

"Sleeping. I gave her a new tincture I've been working on. The doctor is staying with her to make sure it works." She lifted her chin. "I wasn't going to let you face this alone."

"And the nanny?"

Her expression shifted slightly. "Felix took her to her room, like you ordered."

"The Council formally recognizes three candidates for the Crown," the elder continued. "But there is one matter that must be settled."

He turned to me. I knew exactly what was coming.

"Alpha Aidan, you know the law."

My jaw tightened.

"A King must have a Queen of Lycan blood. Alpha Silas and Alpha Thaddeus have already presented their Lunas."

Silas's wife smiled. Thaddeus's Luna inclined her head.

"At the next full moon, one month from tonight, they will enter the Rite of the Moon Goddess, where she will judge which of them is worthy of the Crown."

Seraphina moved half a step closer.

It was barely a movement. But in a hall full of Alphas looking for something to gossip about, it might as well have been an announcement.

Don't you dare, Varek snarled.

We don't have a choice.

Choose her, and at the first Blood Moon, when you lose hold of me, I will burn her.

I went still.

Strange.

My wolf had never threatened her before. I didn't want Seraphina hurt. She was an Alpha's daughter, and the last thing I needed was a war between our packs. Especially with her father standing right there.

Across the hall, Thaddeus watched me with a patient smile. He wanted the crown, but if it wasn't going to be him, he wanted his blood standing beside it.

"Alpha Aidan." The elder's voice carried to every corner of the hall. "Have you chosen your Luna?"

Hundreds of faces waited for my answer.

I looked at my father. His jaw was tight, and he gave the smallest shake of his head.

Don't embarrass me.

My gaze dropped to Seraphina's hand on my arm.

For one horrible second, I pictured it engulfed in flames. Her skin burning. Blistering.

Well? Varek hissed. What are you going to do?