Chapter 21 MISSING WILLA
GALLAHAN’S POV
I rose from my chair, but both Zuleika and Maliya held me by my elbow to stop me from making another move.
“What?” I asked impatiently.
“Seriously, Gee. Can you stop acting like you are meeting the family of your beloved? This is a negotiation! A parley. About this ongoing divide among werewolves.”
“I know that!” I snapped. “I know, okay? But aren’t we supposed to be good and polite hosts for this?”
Zuleika sighed, giving my elbow a comforting squeeze. “We should be polite and civil, yes. But… you aren’t hosting a happy get-together, Gallahan. As Maliya said, this is a negotiation. There is no need for you to be so hospitable and friendly. Let my family’s munchkins do their job. They will welcome our guests and bring them here. Okay? All you have to do is to act as the Alpha King’s son and as the Culling Army’s General.”
I frustratingly rubbed a hand over my face and let it run and comb through my hair as I planted my ass back on my seat.
“Right. Sorry. I…” A sigh interrupted my words. “I suppose I really am out of my depth here. I’d rather be training my army or conquer another kingdom. I just… I know this was my idea, and I was the one who set this into motion, but I still…”
I paused and closed my eyes for a moment to gather my bearings before begrudgingly admitting, “I feel like a fish out of water right now. “
Maliya snorted, finally letting go of my elbow. “I suppose ceasefire negotiations are not a topic in your books?”
My lips curled into a small and tight smile. “No. I rarely touch books about politics or diplomacy. They’re…boring.”
“Makes sense.” Zuleika gave my elbow another squeeze before letting go. “Now pull yourself together. At least be a perfect picture of composure in front of the League members.”
“Right. Just let Zuleika handle this,” Maliya added. “She got this.”
“And what are you here for exactly?” Zuleika and I asked at the same time.
“Moral support, of course!”
I scoffed. “Right. How…valuable.”
A knock on the door interrupted our conversation, and a mildly high-pitched voice said, “Miss Banfey, your guests are here.”
“Let them enter, Bartie.”
At Zuleika’s permission, the intricately carved double doors, varnished with dark lacquer, smoothly swung open.
Then a munchkin, a creature that was half dwarf and half fae, announced like a herald, “The honorable Greggory Alfiero, Headmaster of the Elfyre Institute for Gifted Beings and Overseer of the League of the Moon…”
One by one, the names and titles of our guests were announced as they walked in. But by the time the fifth guest who I couldn’t care less about was declared as the second-in-command of the Peacemakers, my heart dropped, and fury instantly boiled in my blood.
I almost snarled out a demand to know Willa’s whereabouts and what they had done to my mate, but Zuleika stood up as she surreptitiously placed a hand on my shoulder.
Her grip was tight, and I could feel her sharp long nails digging into the layers of fabric of my clothes. And that said a lot about her grip when I was clad in my official regalia as the heir of the Alpha King. Basically, I was wrapped in layers and layers of midnight blue and gold, with the most outerwear being a long side cape hanging on my right shoulder.
“Welcome to Banfey Manor.” Zuleika said, her tone controlled yet polite.
I took a furtive glance at her, guessing that she was as unhappy as I was at the turn of events. My guess was proven right by the way her iris had turned to vertical red slits.
Greggory Alfiero handed his sleek black cane with a rose gold handle that was shaped into a wolf’s head to Bartie, who accepted it almost reverently.
“Honored to meet,” Alfiero greeted, bowing a little with his arms slightly spread and his palms facing us. “Heir to the throne.”
I rose from my seat, forcing Zuleika to let go of my shoulder, and then I mirrored Alfiero’s respectful genuflect, despite my raging displeasure and anger over Willa’s absence. “Honored to meet, esteemed Headmaster.”
He nodded once in acknowledgment before turning to Zuleika. With his hand placed against his breastbone, he said, “Salud to the Banfey clan. Salud to the Belleza Coven.”
Zuleika placed a hand over her chest, exactly where her heart would be, and replied, “Huzzah, huzzah. Salud to the Alfiero clan. Salud to the Wolverham Pack.”
Alfiero’s shrewd gaze landed on Maliya, but all she got was a curt nod and a plain, “Miss Maliya Macarius, I am delighted to make your acquaintance.”
Maliya got on her feet and bowed deeply with a fist pressed on her abdomen. “The pleasure is all mine, Headmaster Alfiero.”
Before the rest of Alfiero’s entourage could repeat the entire process on the proper exchange of greeting between individuals from prominent and affluent families of the Midland Continent, I boldly declared, “Let’s skip the bullshit etiquette and get down to business, shall we?”
I ignored Zuleika’s sharp intake of breath. My eyes were focused on Alfiero, whose lips were pressed together and curled in distaste.
“How impudent,” Alfiero remarked. “You have no regard for-”
“Yes, I don’t,” I scathingly cut in.
Zuleika, no longer caring to be subtle in trying to reign me and my temper in, gripped my arm tight and hissed, “Gallahan!”
But even if she poured all her effort in stopping me, it would just be futile. I didn’t care anymore if I was throwing away this fucking parley I had worked hard to sway my people to agree on. It didn’t matter anymore.
Not when Willa didn’t come.
“I have no regard for faked civility when you regard me and my people with disdain. I also have no regard for whatever you have to say, since you seem to have no integrity to honor one of my explicit demands, which you have willingly agreed on. So perhaps there is no business to get down to, Headmaster, other than telling me the whereabouts of Willa Coraline Alfiero.”