Chapter 7 The King's Ledger

Alaric's POV

The door closed behind Sophie. The sound echoed in my chamber. My skin felt hot. I stood in the silence.

I am the Alpha of Blackwood. I am the King of the North. Men tremble when I speak. My council bows. My enemies flee. Yet a girl in strange clothes had accused me of harassment.

Muah.

I touched my lips. I looked at the soup. My head was thumping from the wine. My mind was spinning faster.

What had I done? I tried to remember the night. I remembered the garden. I remembered the scent of jasmine. I remembered her holding my arm. The rest was a dark void.

"Cassian!" I roared.

The side door opened immediately.

My Beta and oldest friend stepped in. He did not look at the broken furniture. He looked at me with a smirk. It made me want to shift and tear his throat out.

"You called, Your Majesty?" Cassian asked. He crossed his arms. "Or should I say, Your Romance?"

"Silence." I barked.

I paced the length of the rug. "The Chief Royal Chef. She claims I... I laid hands on her last night. She used a strange word. She made a sound with her mouth."

I stopped and looked at him. I needed him to tell me she was lying. I needed him to say she was crazy.

Cassian's smirk widened.

"She is not lying, Alaric. You did more than putting your hands on her. You clung to her like a pup to a mother. You put your lips on hers and refused to let go. I watched from the shadows. I made sure you did not fall into the stream. Until I realized I was watching a theater of the heart."

I felt the blood drain from my face. I touched my mouth again. My fingers shook. I had kissed the spirit sent by the Goddess.

"I do not remember. Why do I not remember?" I asked calmly.

"Because you drank enough wine to kill a lesser wolf." Cassian said.

"She is furious. She believes you took advantage of your crown."

"I must satisfy her anger." I muttered.

I looked at the scattered pieces of the tray.

"I want you to send for the royal jeweler. I will give her silks from the southern trade routes. I will give her gold pins for her hair."

Cassian let out a sharp laugh.

"You are so funny Alaric. You think every woman is like Elara? Elara loves gold because it buys her power. The ghost chef does not care for your shiny rocks. She looks at your crown like it is a kitchen pot."

"Then what does she want?" I demanded. "I am a King. I give gifts. That is how peace is made..."

"She speaks of her bag." Cassian interrupted.

His face turning serious.

"And that book. The ledger she was holding when you found her in the net. She says her life is inside that bag. If you want her to forgive you. Help her find her treasure. Give her back her past."

I felt a cold shiver in my chest.

If I found that book. It would take her back. She would disappear into the air.

"Take two guards." I commanded.

"Go to the cliff. Search the riverbanks. Search every thicket. Find the bag. Find the book. Bring them to me."

Cassian bowed. He turned and left.

In my heart, a dark thought took root. I prayed the book remained lost. I am the Tyrant King. Yet I was becoming a prisoner to a strange girl. I did not want her to have a way home.

I left the wreckage of my room. I needed quiet.

I walked to my private study. A small chamber hidden behind the library. This was where I spent my hours alone. This was where I wrote the laws of the pack.

I sat at the heavy oak desk. I pulled out a fresh journal. The leather was new. The pages were white and empty.

I picked up a charcoal stick. I did not write a law. I did not plan a war. Instead, I began to draw.

I drew the bowl of chilled melon soup. I drew the nut tart. I drew the recovery broth she had just brought me. I wrote down her explanations in the margins.

Lemon balm for the head. Ginger for the gut.

I found myself smiling as I sketched the steam rising from a wooden bowl.

I stopped. I dropped the charcoal.

Why am I thinking about the ghost? I asked myself.

My kingdom was facing a winter of hunger. The southern packs were restless. I was a King. Yet I was sitting in a dark room drawing soup. I was obsessed. I was distracted.

A sharp knock at the door broke my thoughts. A guard entered. He bowed his head low.

"Alpha. The Elders have gathered in the Great Hall. They demand an audience. They say the matter is urgent."

"Leave." I said.

"I will be there."

I looked at the new journal. I needed a name for it. I couldn't think of one. My mind was too full of her face.

I closed the book and tucked it into a hidden drawer.

I walked to the Great Hall. The air was thick. I could smell the scent of old men and damp wool.

The Elders sat in a semi-circle. Their white beards resting on their chests.

They were whispering. The moment my boots clicked on the stone. The room went silent.

I climbed the dais. I sat on the throne of bone. I did not speak. I let the silence stretch until they shifted in their seats.

"Speak." I commanded.

Elder Hrothgar stood up. He leaned on a gnarled staff.

"Your Majesty. The pack of Blackwood Kingdom is whispering. They say their Alpha is no longer focused on the borders. They say he chases a ghost. To involve yourself with a spirit is a taboo, Alpha. It invites doom to our crops and our blood."

He stepped forward. His eyes milky with age.

"The law is clear. The Alpha must be involved with a woman of his class. Lady Elara is of noble blood. She is fit for your bed. This... nobody... this cook uses tricks. She uses strange potions to confuse your mind. She must be removed."

Rage flared in my gut. I felt my claws grow. But beneath the rage, there was a strange spark of joy. They were afraid of her. They saw her power.

"Remove her?" I asked.

My voice was dangerously low.

"When did the pack begin to question the authority of the Alpha King? When did the Elders decide who enters my kitchen or my bed?"

"We speak for the safety of the pack..." Elder Hrothgar said

"You speak for your own fear!" I interrupted him.

I stood up. My presence filling the hall.

"You come here to tell me I am confused? I am the Alpha! I see everything. I see who put these words in your mouths."

I knew this was Elara's work. She had whispered in their ears. She had used the Elders to do her dirty work. She knew I wouldn't listen to her.

"This meeting is dismissed." I snapped.

I walked down the steps of the dais.

"Return to your homes. Come back when you have something better to say. Not the gossip of a jealous woman. If I hear another word of this. I will find the source and I will silence it permanently."