The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 172

One thing at a time

(Calus)

I watched her the whole time.

Not Brent. Not Dara, Isla

I’d told her I would let her handle it and I’d meant it and I stood behind her and kept every instinct I had pointed at the wall and watched her do something I couldn’t have done in her position. Not because I lacked the composure. Because I wouldn’t have asked the questions she asked. I would have gone in with what I knew and delivered what needed delivering and left with the matter settled.

She went in with nothing decided and came out with more than she’d had before.

That was the difference between us and it wasn’t a small one.

Dara had surprised me.

Not her willingness to face us. I’d half expected that from a former royal guard, the training held even after everything else had changed. What surprised me was how she spoke to Isla. Directly. Without deflection. Without the performance of remorse that people put on when they were trying to manage a situation rather than answer for it.

She’d answered for it.

The part about Brent telling her everything before she made the decision had landed in me differently than I’d expected. I hadn’t known that. I’d assumed she’d felt the bond and acted without full information the way wolves sometimes did when the bond arrived without warning. Instead he’d told her the worst of himself first and she’d chosen him anyway.

That wasn’t nothing.

Brent had surprised me more.

I hadn’t expected the because it was easy. I’d expected deflection, justification, the careful reshaping of memory that people did when they were trying to present themselves as better than the record showed. Instead he’d handed Isla the plainest possible version of the truth and let her do what she wanted with it.

The man in that healer’s house was not the same man who had stood in the Ashcrest hall. Or rather, the man in the hall had already been becoming this man and the hall had been part of that becoming. The confession hadn’t been performance. It had been the beginning of something.

I didn’t know yet what that meant for the sentence.

That was Isla’s decision and I’d told her it was Isla’s decision and I’d meant that too.

The drive back was quiet.

She looked out the window and I didn’t ask anything and Vorak stayed where he was, present and settled, not pushing for anything. The bond between us was warm and she was tired in the way she got tired after something had required everything from her and she’d given it.

When we gut back to Wraithbone I went to find Pryor

He was in the office waiting, which told me he’d felt us arrive through the pack bond and had positioned himself accordingly +-closed the door and sat down.

“Dara,” I said.

He looked at me.

“She’s been located and spoken to,” I said. “She didn’t run. She answered for what she did without being asked twice.” I looked at the desk for a moment. “She needs to be formally addressed but I want it handled carefully

“Because of the bond,” Pryor said.

“Because of the bond,” I said. “And because of how she handled today. That counts for something”

Pryor was quiet for a moment. “What are you thinking?”

“A formal censure,” I said. “Removal from royal guard standing permanently. But no confinement. She gave up her position and her place in Wraithbone when she left. That’s already been paid.”

Pryor nodded slowly. “And if she wants to return to Wraithbone at some point?”

“That depends on what happens with Brent,” I said. “One thing at a time.”

He wrote something in the margin of the document in front of him and set his pen down. “The sentence.”

“Isla is sitting with it,” I said. “She’ll tell me when she’s ready. Nothing moves until she does.”

He nodded once. He didn’t ask what she was likely to decide and I didn’t offer it because I genuinely didn’t know. I had thoughts. I had instincts about where she was heading based on what I’d watched in that healer’s house. But they were her thoughts to arrive at, not mine to predict.

“One more thing.” I said.

Pryor looked up.

“The guard captain who didn’t flag Dara’s resignation,” I said. “I want a conversation with him. Not formal. Just a conversation about what gets flagged and what doesn’t when a prisoner transport has just come back.”

“I’ll arrange it,” Pryor said.

I stood and left him to it.

Isla was in our quarters when I got there.

She was sitting on the bed with her back against the headboard, not reading, not doing anything in particular, just present in the quiet the way she sometimes was after something had taken a lot from her She looked up when I came in.

“Pryor?” she asked

“Handled,” I said. “Dara will receive a formal censure. No confinement.”

She nodded once. Something in her expression settled slightly.

“That’s right,” she said

“I thought so,” I said

I sat beside her and the bond was warm between us and neither of us said anything for a while Outside Wraithbone moved through its evening, the pack settling into the quieter hours, the territory carrying everything it always carried without needing either of us to direct any of it.

“He meant it,” she said eventually. “The apology.”

“I know,” I said.

I’m not ready to do anything with that yet,” she said. “But I know he meant it.”

“You don’t have to be ready,” I said. “There’s no timeline on this.”

She looked at me. “You’re not going to tell me what you think I should do.”

“No.” I said.

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