Chapter 176 – Plans and Pretense
Ronan
We’ve been running since dawn and every stride brings the walls of Silvercrest closer. Every heartbeat drums one word through me. Eli.
Kieran runs beside me in wolf form until the trees thin, then he slows and shifts, his breath sending steam rising in the air.
“We need to talk,” he says. His voice is hoarse from disuse. He hasn’t spoken much since we left Blackthorn.
I nod and change, watching as the others slow down when they catch up to us. We find shelter under an overhang streaked with icicles. It smells of cold and moss, neutral ground.
Kieran drags a hand through his hair, leaving it wild. “You should go ahead without me. I’ll find a way into the keep and hide until you give the signal.”
I’ve been thinking about that part of the plan and it leaves Kieran alone and unprotected. Gods know when I turned into such a sappy softy, but I don’t want him in danger and separated from the rest of us.
“You go in with us,” I tell him. “Tell your father you’ve convinced me to compromise.”
He looks up sharply. “Compromise?”
I let the word hang there, tasting bitterness even when I know it’s just a ruse. “We tell him I’ll share Eli. Half a year each, like livestock rotation.”
Kieran winces. “He’ll never agree. He doesn’t share.”
“I don’t need him to agree. I need him to believe I’ve run out of options and you’re the one who made me realize it. I wouldn’t actually share Eli. Don’t go getting any ideas.”
Snowflakes spin between us and I can feel the others listening without turning their heads.
“He’ll still kill me,” Kieran says quietly. “Mercy isn’t in his nature.”
“I know.” I meet his eyes. “This isn’t a final shot at redemption. It’s a way to get you in so we don’t have to worry about you being caught. Besides, killing his own son in an ambush won’t look good.”
He gives a humorless laugh. “You think that matters to him?”
“No,” I admit. “But it will matter to his pack. When it’s time for them to choose, they’ll remember.”
Eli’s voice cuts through the wind sharply. “Are you two done plotting how to auction me off?”
I close my eyes for a beat. He’s standing just beyond the drift, cloak half-fastened, blond hair whipped into disarray by the wind. He looks furious and beautiful and entirely alive.
Kieran flinches as if struck. “Eli-”
I walk toward him slowly. “I’m only throwing it out there so we can get Kieran in through the main gate.”
“By telling Alaric he can borrow me?” His laugh is brittle. “Great plan, Alpha. Maybe throw in free shipping.”
“Enough.” My voice comes out too harsh. His shoulders twitch but he doesn’t back away. “I don’t like the lie any more than you do, but it’s just for show.”
Eli’s jaw works. “I’ll play along,” he says finally. “But don’t expect me to smile while he talks about breeding rights.”
“I wouldn’t survive it,” I say, and the honesty cracks him.
His mouth softens and the anger melts away. “Then we’d better make it convincing,” he murmurs.
Later, after we’ve eaten, Kieran kneels by the fire, sketching lines in the snow with a stick.
The walls of Silvercrest, the great hall, the placement of guards. “The front gate’s ceremonial. It’s lightly guarded in the daytime and triple-locked by night. It’s also visible from the palace. He’ll make us enter through the main arch where lots of eyes can see us. The great hall is located here.”
He marks a spot deep inside the stronghold. “Father had the servants’ hall blocked up and false panels put in years ago. That’s where the mercenaries will be hidden.”
He hesitates. “Ronan, he’ll look at Eli first and try to bait you just for fun. You’ll want to kill him. Don’t.”
“I won’t,” I lie.
Kieran smirks faintly. “So you’ll do your best not to, then.”
When Eli settles beside me later, wrapped in his cloak, his voice is quiet.
“He’s going to touch me with his eyes the way the Alphas at Ashgrave used to.”
I turn my head and the bright gray of his eyes is all but gone. His pupils are wide, wolf-dark. “He’ll look. That’s all he gets.”
Eli presses his fingers to the collar he refused to take off before we left, tracing the leather slowly. “I wonder if he’ll know what this means.”
“No. He’ll think it’s a sign of ownership. That you’re my pet.”
He glances up, a crooked grin struggling through fear. “I’m sorry, are both those things not absolutely accurate?”
“Not in the way he’ll assume. We belong to each other. And you’re a disobedient, bratty, difficult pet who pisses on the carpet and chews the furniture, but I love you anyway and will keep you forever,” I correct him.
He laughs softly and leans his shoulder into mine. “You’re unbearable when you try to be sweet.”
“Then don’t make me try.”
“You hate this,” he says finally.
“Yes.”
“But you’ll still do it.”
“Yes.”
“Because you think it’s smart.”
“Because it’s necessary.”
He studies me in the flicker of firelight. “You know what scares me most?”
I raise a brow.
“That I’ll be the reason you lose control.”
“That’s not how control works,” I say. “You don’t take it from me. I’m in charge of keeping it.”
His mouth quirks. “You make it sound like a gift.”
“It is.”
He goes quiet, and for a moment the air feels softer. Then he sighs and looks away. “Just…don’t forget to breathe while we’re in there, Alpha.”
“I never do.”
“Liar.”
We move out again at first light. I keep Kieran close, matching his pace. He’s steady now, eyes fixed ahead.
The link hums between us. Our pack bond pulsing with readiness, fear and loyalty. I push calm through it, in a commanding tone that tells them it will all work out.
By late afternoon we reach the ridge above the valley. Silvercrest sprawls below like some kind of fairytale city. Marble towers, gilded gates, banners snapping in the wind.
Kieran stops beside me, staring down with blazing eyes. “Home,” he says in a hollow voice.
“Not right now, but it will be soon.”
He nods, looking grateful for my words. “Soon.”
Behind us, Eli climbs the last rise and stands between us. The moonlight catches his hair, turning it into gold. He looks down at the keep and says, quietly, “Let’s finish this.”
Kieran hesitates, staring at the horizon. I can read the fear in his shoulders even before he says, “He’ll try to humiliate you.”
“He’ll fail. I don’t give a fuck about his opinions.”
“He always does it with words first. Then blades.”
“Then we answer with truth,” I say. “Words first. Then blood.”
Eli groans. “Fantastic. Another one of your poetry phases. You have so many talents Alpha, but none of them are words.”
Kieran snorts, startled laughter spilling out. The sound is strange after so much silence. “I missed this,” he says.
Eli smirks. “Don’t get sentimental, Kieran. We’ll have plenty of time for you to pine for me once you’re king.”
“Alpha,” Kieran corrects automatically.
“Same thing,” Eli replies, and starts walking.
I watch him go, his slight figure against endless white, and realize that whatever waits in that gilded hall, the outcome doesn’t matter as much as the fact that we’re walking into it together.
There’s no denying that Silvercrest looks beautiful from the outside. That’s how rot always hides itself. Beneath polish.
I glance back at my pack. My friends and family. Mara’s eyes meet mine, steady as always. Hazel bares her teeth in a quick grin. Jace adjusts the straps on his gear nonchalantly.
Eli’s at my side, head high, shirt opened so the collar is visible. Kieran stands a step behind him, his expression unreadable.
I can taste the coming violence on the air and I’m in hurry to get it over with.
“Once we’re inside,” Kieran says, “He’ll smile like he’s delighted to see you. He thrives on being jovial while plunging a knife into your back.”
“Then let him smile,” I answer. “I’ll give him something worth choking on.”
Eli snorts. “Your talent for subtlety astounds.”
I let the corner of my mouth lift. “It gets results. I don’t remember you requesting more subtlety in our bed.”
He nudges my shoulder. “Just remember, sharing’s caring.”
“Watch your mouth,” I growl, but the edge softens.
His grin flashes like sunlight off a blade. “Make me.”
We reach the final slope and the gates come into full view. I draw a deep breath, before muttering, “Show time.”
Eli rolls his shoulders. “After you, Alpha.”
We step forward together, footprints sinking into the snow.