Chapter 80

Mara's POV

Six months later, someone tried to kneel to me in Black Hollow's courtyard.

It was a visiting trade delegate from a southern pack that had kept ceremonial Alpha customs under the optional system. The moment he saw the silver Witness pin on my coat, habit took over.

His knee had barely bent when I caught his elbow.

"Please stand." He looked embarrassed. "Steward, I meant respect."

"Then shake my hand. It is easier on the joints."

He laughed and did.

Ronan watched from the council steps with the expression of a man enjoying a joke he had heard many times and still liked.

The spring assembly filled the courtyard with the ordinary noise of a system people were still