My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 48

Fenris

Yesterday evening. One hour before I walked into Sera’s hallway and found Lord Torin trying to give orders in my fortress.

The scent of southern perfume was a thick, rotting sweetness in the cold mountain air. It smelled of vanilla and crushed flowers, mixed with the sharp, bitter tang of raw panic. I smelled her before she even stepped out of the shadows.

I was walking down the lower residential corridor. Yvara was beside me. We had just finished discussing the yard rotations for the next morning. The stone walls were freezing, radiating the deep chill of the mountain.

The Queen of Valdris stepped out from the intersecting hallway leading to the guest wing.

She did not walk out with the grace of a royal. She stepped out quickly, her heavy blue silk skirts dragging across the rough stone floor. Two Valdris guards followed her. They stopped the moment they saw me. Their hands twitched toward their sword hilts, but they did not draw. They knew better. They stayed back, pressing themselves against the wall.

Sera’s mother stood in the middle of the corridor, blocking my path.

I did not stop immediately. I took three more steps, forcing her to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact. I stopped only when I was close enough to see the rapid pulse beating in her throat.

"Alpha Volkov," she said. Her voice shook. She tried to steady it, pulling her shoulders back to mimic authority. It failed.

"Make it quick," I said.

She flinched at the bluntness. In the South, they padded their sentences with titles and useless pleasantries. I had no patience for it.

"I need to speak with you," she said. She glanced at Yvara. "Privately."

Yvara let out a low, dry scoff. She leaned her back against the cold stone wall and crossed her arms. She did not move an inch.

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