The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 341

Chapter 341: I Am Going To Fix This. Let Me.

Atlas rose from his seat.

"Remove her."

Guards moved.

"And let me be clear." Atlas’s voice carried over the sound of the woman’s protests as she was escorted toward the exit. "Anyone else with a problem can leave. Voluntarily, or otherwise. No one else will disrespect my daughter today. That is a courtesy I am extending once. I will spend it on the next person who opens their mouth."

Nobody opened their mouth.

The courtyard was silent. The sea filled the gap. River stood at the altar with her new husband’s hand in hers and her eyes burning and her chin lifted, because River Aelindor had survived worse than this.

The celebration was held in the great hall. Music, food, wine, laughter that was slightly too loud and slightly too deliberate, the particular energy of a gathering trying to will normalcy into existence after a ceremony that would be discussed in whispers for the next century.

River was present. She danced with Tristan. She accepted congratulations with grace. She smiled at the right moments and spoke at the right volume and performed the role of a bride with the discipline of a woman who had spent her entire life learning to hold composure when the thing behind it was falling apart.

Her eyes were red the entire time and her voice cracked.

Tristan watched her. He caught every micro-expression, every fractional delay between a question and her response, every moment where her smile arrived one beat too late. He knew her too well. He had always known her too well, and the knowledge was a gift and a weapon and right now it was both.

She started drifting toward the side corridor. The drift was subtle, a half-step at a time, the particular retreat of a woman who had calculated the minimum required appearance time and was approaching the threshold.

Tristan intercepted her before she reached the archway.

"I am feeling unwell," she said, her voice carrying a practiced steadiness.

"Then I am going with you."

"You should stay. They are your guests."

"They are our guests. And our guests can survive without us, because I am going where you are going, and where you are going is where I belong. That is the entire point of today."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, baby. Let’s go."

She didn’t argue or push back any more, because she wanted it to be true.

They left together.

✦✦✦

Their chambers had been transformed.

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