Chapter 128 Kneeling in chains
Ruel’s POV
Their grip disappears from my arms all at once, and the sudden loss of support sends me staggering forward in my chains.
Before I can catch myself, heavy boots kick against my spine. The pain strikes through my body, awakening recently healed wounds.
My knees slam against the ground of the Alpha king's judgement room and the chains on both my wrists are yanked, pulling a silent groan out of me.
The rough surface bites into my knees, a sharp sting shooting up my arms and settling deep in my shoulders.
Pain flares even further down my back, but I force down the tremors I actually feel.
Slowly, I lift my head.
The court unfolds around me in a vast semicircle that seems to go on forever. The space is enormous, yet it feels strangely tight, as if the weight of authority itself presses down on the room.
Even breathing feels heavier here.
The elders sit high along the curved wall, their seats raised above everyone else and each one of their gaze is fixed on me in a glare.
Along the outer edges of the hall, guards stand in perfect lines. Not one of them moves, but their drawn sword does all the talking I need. That's a boundary.
And at the center of it all stands the Alpha King.
His throne rises behind him, carved from solid gold, a towering thing meant to remind everyone exactly who holds power in this room. But he does not sit on it.
Instead, he stands several steps in front of it, his hands clasped loosely behind his back as he watches me calmly the way a predator watches prey that has already been cornered.
Silence stretches, thickening until it settles heavy across my shoulders.
I know this tactic. The silence is deliberate, an old method used in courts and interrogations… one designed to make the accused unravel without a single question being asked.
They want me to crack.
Even if I do, they'll be disappointed to see the base commander in tears over a heartbreak. It would even surprise them more to know I still can't stop thinking about Ira, wondering why I never saw her betrayal coming.
Alpha King Andre takes a step forward, his jaw tightening.
“You kneel before your alpha in chains,” he says, his voice carrying across the vast chamber with effortless control.
“Yet you still hold your head high!”
The hard sole of a guard's boot crashes into the side of my head, forcing me into a bowing position.
Pain explodes through my skull but I keep my head down, fighting back against Krist who's been on edge since we got dragged in here.
Warm liquid slides down my temple, sliding over my cheek before dripping from my jaw. The metallic taste reaches my tongue even before I manage to force myself upright again, unable to restrain Krist for long.
“You kept a sempyr alive,” the king continues. “Not only did you shelter our enemy, you turned your claws on your own pack. That is treason, and the penalty is death!”
My tongue feels swollen inside my mouth, and each breath burns its way through my throat before settling painfully in my chest.
“Look at me.”
I force my head up again, pain tearing across my jaw as my bruised muscle stretches under the movement, but I hold his gaze anyway.
“You will answer for every breath you took in her presence,” he says quietly. “But first I want the full depth of your betrayal laid bare.”
Suddenly his ringed fist crashes into my cheek, the impact detonating across my skull.
Of all things to think of in this moment, my mind chooses to remember a white haired woman, with the face of an angel.
Moonlight highlighting her sassy facial expression, her breathless laugh pressed against my throat, her slender fingers sliding down my back…
Anger floods my chest so suddenly it almost steals my breath.
The memory shatters even before another blow lands against my temple.
I sway but remain upright.
“WHERE ARE THE MAPS?” the king growls.
Blinking slowly, I try to steady my vision.
“My office,” I say hoarsely. “I always keep them under the table in a secret compartment.”
A harsh laugh tears from his throat just as murmurings rise from the elders.
“You truly are a fool.” His voice echoes. “Do you really not see what has happened?!”
My brows furrow in confusion.
“Your precious sempyr took them. Every scrap of parchment we had. Every path we charted through the fucking eastern fog.”
Cold spreads through my stomach like ice water.
No.
The maps… why didn't that ever cross my damned mind? Of course that's why she was here. How could I not have seen it?
All the men we lost while mapping out the safest route to the east… everything is gone. Every one of their loyalty wasted.
“Without those maps we'll never find it easy to penetrate the forest fog, not without losing lives.”
Rage surges through my chest so violently that the chains around my wrists snap tight as I lunge forward.
“This is all your fault!” I shout, causing the entire court to freeze.
Alpha king Andre glares at me.
“If you'd never thought to make mockery of me by sending a pleasure body to the base, none of this would have happened!” I continue, my voice rising despite the raw pain in my throat.
“How dare you blame me for your foolishness?!” The alpha king growls.
“Aren’t you to be blamed? When the one they forced on me was my fucking mate.” I say through clenched teeth, “A sempyr, but still my mate. I never stood a chance against that bond.”
The king studies my face with unsettling focus.
“Your mate,” he repeats slowly.
“You cannot have two mates Commander Ruel. You belong to me!” Gestrid mutters form beside the throne.
“Oh shut up you idiot.” Alpha king Andre hisses, glaring at her clenched fists.
She takes a step forward but the king lifts one hand without looking at her again.
“Quiet.”
The single word freezes her in place. And then, his attention returns to me.