Chapter 173: The Ultimate Sacrifice

Maddie Pov

The black iron fire poker was still in my hand and the cold metal felt heavy against my palms. I could feel the deep voice of Kai gathering in the back of my throat again, trying to push my own words out of the way. Calix stood right in front of me with his chest bare and his hands open, and he was not even trying to guard his face.

"Do it now, Calix," I said and I tucked my chin down so the words would come out clear before the high peak voice took over my lips. "The black lines are moving past my chin. If you do not drop me with the iron blade tonight, he is going to take my fingers and make me drive this poker straight through your throat."

"I am not pulling the knife on you, Maddie," Calix said and he took one step forward until his boots were touching my toes. "We can find another elder in the valley. Thomas just needs more time to look at the old reverse code."

"There is no time left for another book," I said.

"She is telling the truth, Alpha," Thomas said and he pulled his small stool back toward the dark corner by the wood box. "The mountain ink is already thick under her skin. If the ink hits the center bone of her chest, the anchor line becomes permanent and the valley cannot break it."

"Shut your old mouth, Thomas," a voice said. The sound dropped down deep and smooth, and my own head tilted back against my shoulders without my permission. My arms raised the iron rod three inches higher and the muscles in my wrists went completely tight. "The female belongs to the stone table now, young Alpha. You can watch her body walk up the mountain path or you can watch it break right here on the logs."

I forced my eyes down toward my own right hand. I could feel my spirit diving back down to the bottom of the dark well, but I caught the edge of the rope with everything I had left. I jammed the pointed tip of the fire poker hard against the wood floorboards and leaned my whole weight forward, trying to force the sharp end toward my own ribs.

"Maddie, stop moving," Rex shouted and he launched his body across the cabin floor. He grabbed the middle of the black iron rod with both hands and pushed it away from my chest. "She is trying to drop herself on the iron, Calix. Hold her arms down."

"Get off the metal, Rex," I said with my own shaky voice. "The contract is bound to my blood. If the blood stops running through the veins tonight, the stone book in the peak hall will close and Kai will go back to his own mountain throne empty-handed."

"I do not care about the peak throne," Calix said and he threw his arms around my shoulders, pinning my elbows against my sides. The impact knocked the iron poker out of my fingers and it made a loud clatter as it rolled across the floorboards. "I care about the female who stands in my yard. We are not trading your life to win a territory fight."

"You are a fool, valley boy," I said and the deep voice came back fast, full of that dry amusement from the high hall. My lips stretched into a wide smile that made the skin around my ears twitch. "You think you are saving a mate, but you are just holding a piece of my own house. The blood in her veins does not even belong to the WolfTrail pack."

"She is the daughter of our old line," Calix said and his voice got very loud next to my ear. "Her mother signed the paper because the winter famine was hard, but she was born under the valley pines."

"Her mother lived in the valley pines, but she spent the spring months in the high court," I said through my own teeth. My right arm reached out and caught Calix by the front of his shirt, shoving him back until his spine hit the log post. "Ask the old man in the corner about the year of the three moons. He knows who crossed the river when the gates were left open."

Calix turned his head slow and looked at Thomas.

"Thomas, what is he talking about?" Calix asked.

"The mother went north for the salt trade, Alpha," Thomas said and he pressed his back hard against the wood logs. He did not look at Calix and his eyes stayed fixed on the spilled water on the floorboards. "She stayed in the peak hall for two months before the snow melted. The old king did not let the valley wolves inside the gates until the season was over."

"She was my mother," I said and my own voice broke through the deep pitch for a second. "She told me my father died in the timber woods when the great tree fell."

"Your mother lied to save her skin from the valley Alphas," I said and the deep mountain voice laughed loud in the quiet room. The sound made my own chest shake hard against Calix’s ribs. "The old king did not take her to the stone table for a salt contract, Maddie. He took her because he wanted the white fur line mixed with the mountain iron."

"You are lying," Calix said.

"Look at her face under the grease lamp, boy," I said and my left hand raised up and tapped the bone of my own jaw. "Look at the shape of the chin and the way the teeth sit together. She does not have the valley bones. She has the high hall bloodline because we share the same father."

The room went completely quiet for a long moment and the only sound was the wind hitting the small window pane. Rex let go of the iron poker and his hands dropped down to his sides slow.

"Kai," I said and my voice came out very small and dry from the bottom of my throat. "What are you saying?"

"I am saying the stone book cannot be broken by a valley ritual because the blood is already identical," I said through my own lips and the dry smile came back wider than before.