Cressida hesitated, then ventured, “Do you think the King will set her aside? I mean, if he could throw this elaborate wedding just for her…”

“What can I say?” Kira shrugged. “I’m a lucky girl, and clearly his best option.”

“Don’t play stupid, runt,” Brian snapped.

“It’s so rude of her to leave her own wedding party when it had barely started,” one brunette woman, named Liora, said to a redhead as soon as she spotted Kira coming back into the ballroom.

Another woman, Cressida, younger and more eager still, hurried to fill the silence. “But surely this must only be politics? Everyone knows you were the one expected to be at his side. His Grace had eyes only for you and…” She trailed off, glancing at Ruby for approval.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she muttered, trying to keep her voice steady.

Brian gave her a sneaky, fox-like smile. “I see why he picked you. He must have been really desperate to choose someone like you.”

“What do you expect from a weak mutt?” another woman, named Mia, asked. “She is pathetic.”

Bingo, Kira thought. He’s got a temper. She decided to poke him a little. “Maybe you should use clearer words? I’m clearly too ‘dumb‘ to understand your implications.”

“You’ve been gone a long time,” Derek said. His voice was perfectly calm, which was somehow scarier than if he had been shouting. “Go back to the party. I’ll be there in a minute.”

A ripple of soft laughter moved through the group.

“I always get what I want!” Brian called out behind her.

She started walking away. Her heart was thumping against her ribs like a trapped bird. She kept waiting for him to grab her or hit her, but he just stood there.

His icy eyes landed on Kira first, then moved to Brian, who was standing there with a huge, annoying grin. Kira knew exactly how bad this looked. That son-of-a-bitch, she thought, glaring back at Brian.

Ruby’s eyes stayed on Kira. “Ladies, he is a King. He is playing a role. The Council has been breathing down his neck for an heir and a stable border for years. I’m sure he did this to spite them. If he has to put a ring on a stray dog to keep the elders quiet, he’ll do it. I’m not worried about a placeholder.”

Kira kept her head high and didn’t look back. Suddenly, the door at the end of the hall swung open, and she stopped dead.

Ruby turned her head slowly, regarding Cressida with the mild interest one might give a child who had just asked something adorably naïve. “He will. King Derek Wolfe is a very difficult man to be with, and she will flee like the others.”

The worst of it was not only that King Derek Wolfe woke up one day and decided to take a bride, but that he took a werewolf woman, a wolfless runt at that. How could the most feared Alpha in the whole of Aethelwulf Country take a weak bride? It was a slap to Ruby’s pretty face. But she didn’t want anyone, especially her minions to see how this had affected her; since she had always bragged about having the king’s favour.

It was Derek.

“If thinking that helps you sleep well at night, by all means go for it.” She pushed herself off the wall, ignoring the fire in her back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a wedding party to get back to.”

The redhead woman whose name is Ruby Veyle stood at the centre, holding a champagne flute she had barely touched, turning the stem slowly between long fingers as though considering whether the wine deserved her attention. Everyone had thought Ruby would become the Luna of Dravengard someday. She had put in all her time and effort into growing their pack, became the Head of Welfare and even chairs the pack women organisational meeting, which was supposed to be headed by a queen. But it had come as a shock, even to Ruby, when King Derek Wolfe announced that he was taking a bride.

“How much is he paying you?”

Brian spun Kira around and shoved her back against the cold wall. Pain exploded across her whip marks, and bit down hard on a gasp, refusing to let him see how much it hurt. Her vision swam; she felt light-headed, her legs shaky, but she stayed upright through sheer stubbornness.

“You’re right,” Mia chimed in, eager to please. “I mean, look at her. She was clinging to his arm like she was afraid she’d trip on her own feet. She looked terrified.”

“You think you’re so smart,” Brian sneered. “You’re just a pathetic, weak, runt, he’s using to spite me. You can’t seriously believe a King would marry a wolfless idiot for love?”

And yes, she currently hated Derek with the intensity of seven suns, but she wasn’t about to hand this smug cousin proof that the marriage was fake. Worse than fake. She had been dragged here against her will. Compared to Brian and that creepy Uncle Crane, Derek suddenly felt like the safer monster.

“Hey, ladies,” a deep male voice said.

“I still can’t believe he went through with it,” another woman, called Sasha, whispered, sipping her champagne. “A werewolf? She doesn’t even have a presence. She’s practically… invisible.”

Kira didn’t argue, or try to explain the situation. She simply nodded once and slipped past him, spine straight, refusing to wonder what would happen in the corridor once the door closed behind her.

He studied her for a long moment, amber eyes narrowed, as if he could peel the truth off her face just by staring. “I’ll double whatever he’s paying you to leave this pack and never come back.”

Those words cut through Kira, crumbling her resolve. They were the exact same ones her father hurled at her whenever he felt like twisting the knife. For a second her mask slipped; something raw flickered behind her eyes. But she refused to show Brian just how much he had hurt her or how scared she was right now. She just gave a casual shrug.

“Look how lost she looks,” another woman, named Adele said.

“Excuse me?” Kira blinked, wide-eyed and innocent.

She had heard their exchange in the ballroom to know exactly what he meant.

“She should be terrified,” Sasha said. “She’s sitting in a seat that doesn’t belong to her. Ruby is the right queen to sit beside the King. She has earned it.”

Although Ruby can’t tell the reason why Derek had suddenly decided to marry a wolfless girl, she tried to save her face with the other women.

***

“So?” Kira acted like she already knew. “He’s the man I love. If our marriage helps him out, I’m happy to help.”

Brian laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. Derek only married you so he could keep his throne.”