I didn't sleep. At dawn, I washed the blood off my palm, pinned up my hair, and walked straight into Kael's study without knocking.

He was eating breakfast at his desk. Bread. Honey. A cup of black tea.

He looked like a man who had slept very well.

"Elara." He didn't stand. "You're early. Did the envoy arrive?"

"Not yet." I shut the door behind me. "I came to ask you something first."

"Make it quick. Elias is due within the hour."

"How long have you been sleeping with Lois Marrow?"

The honey spoon stopped halfway to his mouth.

For one second, his face went blank. Then he set the spoon down and wiped his fingers on a napkin, one at a time.

"Who told you that?"

"Nobody told me. I saw you. Last night. At the fountain."

"You were spying on me?"

"I was bringing you the border agreement." I tossed the bent folder onto his plate. Honey smeared across the leather. "You told the guard nobody gets in. You should have told him to lock the gate."

Kael pushed the folder aside. His jaw worked, then went still.

"Sit down, Elara."

"No."

"You're upset. I understand." His voice went low and patient, the way he talked to frightened horses. "But you're making this bigger than it is."

"Bigger than it is?" My laugh came out cracked. "You told her I'd sleep in the east wing. You told her I'd never get your mark. You said my job was to smile at the elders."

"Isn't it?"

I stared at him.

He leaned back in his chair. "This is a treaty marriage. You knew that from the start. Your father knew it. Ironvale gets grain and safety. You get a title most Omegas would kill for. What exactly did you think you were getting?"

"A husband."

"You're getting one."

"I'm getting a jailer who keeps his lover by the fountain!"

He stood up so fast the chair scraped stone. "Lower your voice."

"Or what? Someone will hear? Everyone already knows, Kael. Your guards know. Hilde knows. I'm the only fool in this territory who didn't."

"Lois was in my life before you were." He came around the desk. "I didn't choose this engagement. My father did. I've been nothing but polite to you for three years."

"Polite." I tasted the word. "You kissed me four times. Every time, you stepped back and said our bond was sacred."

A flicker crossed his face. Guilt, maybe. Or just irritation.

"I was being kind," he said.

"You were being a liar."

He grabbed my wrist. Not hard, but firm enough to remind me who was the Alpha in the room.

"Listen to me. In six days, we stand in front of both houses and say the vows. You'll wear the white. You'll smile. Then you can do whatever you want in the east wing. Read. Paint. Plant your little moonflowers." His grip tightened. "And if you go running to your father with stories, who do you think he'll believe? His Omega daughter, crying about a fountain? Or the Alpha who feeds his people?"

I pulled my wrist free.

"I'll make him believe me."

"With what? Your word?" Kael smiled, and it was almost gentle. "Elara. Nobody takes an Omega's word over mine."

The knock on the door saved him from my answer.

"Alpha Kael." Pip's voice, thin and nervous. "Alpha Elias Thorne of the Frostmarch has arrived. He says he's here to settle the alliance terms."

Kael's whole face changed. The coldness vanished. He was grinning like a boy.

"Send him in."

He turned back to me and straightened my collar with two quick tugs.

"Fix your face," he murmured. "Elias is the closest thing I have to a brother. Don't embarrass me."

The door opened.

The man who walked in had to duck under the frame. Dark hair, cut short. A gray traveling coat still damp from the morning fog. A scar along his left jaw that pulled slightly when he smiled at Kael.

"You look fat," he said.

"You look old," Kael shot back, and they slammed into a hug that knocked a stack of papers off the desk.

I should have stepped back. I should have curtsied and found a reason to leave.

Then Elias turned his head and looked at me.

Everything stopped.

Heat poured through my veins like someone had lit a fire under my skin. My heart slammed once, twice, then broke into a wild, pounding run. Deep in my chest, something woke up and pulled toward him, so hard that my body swayed a half step forward before I caught myself.

Pine. Cold rain. Smoke.

His scent filled my lungs, and my wolf, who had been quiet for three long years in this house, lifted her head and said one word.

*Mine.*

No.

No, no, no.

Elias went rigid. His hand was still on Kael's shoulder, and I watched his knuckles turn white. His gray eyes widened. Something tore open behind them, shock first, then a raw, naked hunger, then something that looked a lot like horror.

"Elias?" Kael pulled back. "You alright?"

Elias blinked. Once.

"Long ride," he said. His voice came out rough, scraped from somewhere deep in his throat.

"Ha. You're getting soft up north." Kael swept an arm toward me. "This is Elara. My bride."

My bride.

The words landed like a slap.

Elias didn't look at me again. He fixed his eyes on a point just past my shoulder, on the bookshelf, on nothing.

"Lady Elara." A short bow. Stiff. Perfect.

"Alpha Thorne." My mouth was so dry I barely got it out.

I folded my hands in front of me so nobody could see them shaking. My skin was burning. Sweat gathered at the back of my neck. If he took one step closer, I didn't know what my body would do.

He didn't take a step. He took two steps back, toward the window, and pulled a sealed scroll from his coat.

"The troop terms," he said to Kael. "Frostmarch commits four hundred warriors to the wedding guard. I need your seal on the supply clause."

"Straight to business. Same old Elias." Kael laughed and grabbed his seal ring off the desk. "You should have seen her this morning. Came in here spitting fire over nothing."

I flinched.

Elias's shoulders locked.

"Over nothing?" he asked quietly.

"Wedding nerves." Kael waved a hand. "She'll settle."

Elias said nothing. He was breathing so shallowly that his chest barely moved, like he was afraid that if he took in too much air, he'd take in too much of me.

I knew, because I was doing the same thing.

The bond hummed between us, tight as a bowstring, invisible and impossible to ignore. Kael stood right in the middle of it, pressing hot wax onto parchment, whistling under his breath.

He didn't notice a thing.

"There." Kael handed the scroll back. "Now the important part. You're staying for the week. No arguments."

Elias's fingers closed around the scroll. They weren't steady.

"I have duties in the north."

"Your duties can wait. My father's dead, and you're my oldest friend." Kael threw an arm around his neck. "Six days from now, Elias, you're standing beside me at the altar."

Across the room, for one breathless second, Elias finally looked at me.

And I saw the same thought burning in his eyes that was screaming inside my head.

He was going to watch me marry his brother.

And neither of us would survive it.

Elias left first.

He muttered something about seeing to his horses and walked out without another glance at me. The door shut behind him, and the air in the study felt thinner. My skin still burned where his scent had touched it.

Kael didn't sit back down.

He stood by the window, watching the courtyard below. His fingers drummed the stone sill. Once. Twice. Then they stopped.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"Don't." He turned around. "Elias has ridden through blizzards with an arrow in his thigh. He doesn't get tired from a 'long ride.' And you looked like you'd seen a ghost."

"I was still angry. With you."

"Were you?" He crossed the room slowly. He circled me once, like a wolf circles a carcass it hasn't decided to eat yet. "Because for a second there, you didn't look angry. You looked scared."

My pulse jumped. I kept my hands folded.

"Your best friend walked in while your bride was in tears. What did you expect me to look like? Thrilled?"

He studied my face for a long moment. I made myself hold his stare.

Then he laughed. Short and dry.

"Fine. Keep your secrets, little Omega. You'll find I don't need them."

"I don't have secrets, Kael. You're the one with a woman at the fountain."

"Ah. Back to that." He sat on the edge of his desk and folded his arms. "Good. Let's finish it. Because I'm done pretending for you."

"Pretending?"

"Being gentle. Being patient. Holding doors for you at dinner." He shrugged. "It's tiring, Elara. And since you've already seen behind the curtain, I don't see the point anymore."

Something cold slid down my spine.

"Say what you came to say."

"You came to me." He smiled. "But fine. Here's the truth. I don't love you. I never have. I never will. And that has never mattered, not once, because this marriage was never about love."

"I know it's a treaty."

"No. You think you know." He leaned forward. "Do you know how many raiders crossed the eastern ridge last winter?"

I said nothing.

"Two hundred. Rogues from the Ashen Wastes. Frostmarch held them off because I sent them grain and steel. Do you know where that grain came from?"

My throat tightened. "Ironvale."

"Ironvale's fields. Draven's roads. Frostmarch's swords. One chain, Elara. Three links." He held up three fingers and folded them down one by one. "Break one, and the whole thing snaps."

"Then you shouldn't have—"

"Shouldn't have what? Kissed a woman I actually want?" He shook his head. "That's nothing. That's a fountain and a few lanterns. What you're thinking about doing is a war."

"I haven't said what I'm thinking."

"You don't have to. I read the treaty too." His voice went soft. Almost kind. "The dishonor clause. Your father's little escape hatch. You were up all night staring at it, weren't you?"

I didn't flinch. I didn't let myself.

"So that's why you're afraid," I said quietly. "Because it's real."

"It's ink." He stood. "Let's say you prove it. Let's say you drag Lois in front of the council and they void the alliance. Ironvale walks away 'without penalty.' Then what?"

"Then we're free."

"Free to starve." He stepped closer. "Your grain routes run through my land. Close them, and your harvest rots in the carts. Your father's soldiers hold the northern pass with Draven steel. Pull it back, and the rogues walk right through Ironvale. You know what rogues do to Omega villages, Elara?"

My nails dug into my knuckles.

"Stop."

"Children first. They're easier to carry off."

"Stop it."

"And my council?" He went on like I hadn't spoken. "They won't call it a voided treaty. They'll call it an insult. An Omega bride spitting on the Draven name a week before the vows. My warriors will want blood, and I'll be honest with you, I won't hold them back very hard."

"You'd march on my father because you got caught?"

"I'd march on your father because you made it public." He tilted his head. "See the difference? I didn't start anything. You did."

The room was very quiet. Somewhere below, a horse whinnied in the courtyard. I wondered if it was Elias's.

I hated myself for wondering.

"You're a monster," I whispered.

"I'm an Alpha." He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. His touch was warm. I wanted to bite his hand off. "Every family in Ironvale. Every farmer, every pup, every one of those stubborn elders you fought Hilde for yesterday. Their lives are sitting right here." He tapped my chest, right over my heart. "On you."

"That's not fair."

"Life isn't." He let his hand drop. "So here's your choice. You smile. You wear the white. You say the vows, and you never mention that fountain again. Ironvale eats. Frostmarch fights. Everybody lives."

"And the other choice?"

"You run to your father. You wave that clause around. And when the smoke clears, every grave in Ironvale has your name on it." He picked up his tea and took a slow sip. "Not mine. Yours."

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.

Because I had done the math too. All night, I had done it. And no matter how I counted, his numbers kept coming out the same as mine.

"You planned this," I said. "From the beginning. You knew I'd find out someday, and you knew I'd have nowhere to go."

"I hoped you'd be smart enough not to look." He set the cup down. "But here we are."

My wolf stirred. Not at Kael. She turned her head toward the door, toward the courtyard, toward the faint ghost of pine and rain that still hung in the air.

*Mine*, she whispered again. Softer this time. Aching.

I pressed my lips together so hard they hurt.

Six days ago, all I wanted was for Kael to love me. Last night, all I wanted was to get away from him. And now, the only thing my body wanted was standing in the courtyard with his horses, and he was the one man in the world I could never touch.

If I broke the engagement, my people would bleed.

If I kept it, I would spend my whole life at a table across from the Alpha my soul had chosen, watching him call me his brother's wife.

There was no third door. Kael had bricked them all up.

"Do we understand each other?" he asked.

I lifted my chin. My eyes stung, but I didn't let anything fall.

"Perfectly."

"Good girl." He walked to the door and opened it for me, as polite as ever. Then, as I passed him, he caught my elbow and leaned down close to my ear.

"One more thing, Elara."

His grip tightened until it hurt.

"Whatever happened between you and Elias in this room, I'm going to find out what it was." His breath was warm on my cheek. "And if it's what I think it is, you won't be the only one who pays for it."