Chapter 42 The carriage ride

Chapter 42 The carriage ride

Fenris stopped then he turned and the weight of his aura made Lyra step back. “The woman who sits beside me is the queen of the north,” Fenris said, his voice going down to a terrifyingly calm,

“And she doesn't need the company of those who cannot respect her. You will stay here, Lyra, if I see so much as your shadow on the road to the summit. I will consider it an act of treason.”

“Fenris, you can't be serious!” she shrieked. “She's a stranger. She is nothing.”

“She is everything,” Fenris growled. “Kaelen, Vane, seal the carriage. We move.”

The carriage was silent, as it began to roll out of the citadel’s gate. Inside the walls were lined with soft furs and a small brazier burnt with blue flames.

“You only brought two warriors,” Astraea noted. “Jaxon will bring his entire vanguard. He will have hundreds of men at the border.”

Fenris leaned back, a confident smile playing on his lips. “I don't need a hundred men to protect you, Astraea. Kaelen and Vane are there to keep the crowd back.”

“As for Jaxon, he thinks numbers equal power. He doesn't realize that a single zenith is worth more than a thousand of starving wolves.”

“He will try the null stone.” Astraea said, her hands resting on her lap. “I can feel the call of it through the earth. He's been preparing it for days.”

“Let him try,” Fenris said, reaching out to take her hand. “The null stone works on magic, but your power isn't magic, is it? It's the soul of the world.”

As they got closer to the Neutral Territories closer to the man who had branded her and the sister who had laughed at it. Her fingers twisting the diamonds on her skirts, the heavenly frost garment shining with every movement. Her face was hidden behind a diamond veil.

"You’re going to injure yourself, Astraea," Fenris said. His voice was calm, but his eyes were fixed on her restless hands.

"I can't help it," she whispered, looking out the frosted window. "I keep seeing them. Not as they are now, but as they were that day. Jaxon’s face when he threw the branded me. Verena’s laugh. It’s like a ghost following me"

"Then kill the ghost," Fenris replied. He leaned forward, his body taking up most of the space. "You are dwelling on the Omega they broke. That girl is dead, Astraea. You buried her in the Silver Peak."

"It’s easy for you to say," she snapped, her silver eyes flashing. "You’ve been a King for centuries. You don’t know what it’s like to have your soul stripped bare in front of thousands of people. When I see them, my heart still wants to stutter. My wolf still wants to hid."

Fenris didn't look offended by her outburst. Instead, he reached out and caught her hands, forcing her to stop fidgeting.

"Do you think I was born with this ice in my veins?" he asked. "I told you about my brother. I told you about the day I had to kill the only family I had left. When I walked into that first Summit after their death, I felt like a fraud. I felt like a murderer wearing a crown he stole from a dead man."

Astraea looked at him, surprised. "You felt that? But the stories say you walked in and burnt the Council’s table into liquid."

"I did," Fenris said, a small, dark smirk touching his lips. "But I didn't do it because I was brave. I did it because I was terrified.”

“I realized that if I showed them a single crack in my armor, the other Alphas would tear the North apart like scavengers. So, I built a mask. And today, I’m going to teach you how to wear yours."

"How?"

"Look at me," he commanded. "Not as your mate. Look at me as the Mad King."

Astraea obeyed. Suddenly, the air in the carriage shifted. Fenris didn't move a muscle, but his presence expanded until the small cabin felt hot. The temperature dropped. His eyes weighed her soul and found it wanting. It was a crushing, suffocating weight of pure power.

Astraea gasped, her breath hitching. "Fenris... stop. It’s too much."

The pressure vanished instantly. Fenris leaned back, the temperature returning to normal. "That wasn't magic, Astraea. I didn't use a single drop of my essence. That was an aura. It is the art of projecting your aura so loudly that no one dares to question your authority."

"I don't think I can do that," she whispered.

"You have to," Fenris said firmly. "When you step out of this carriage at the Summit, Jaxon and Verena will be looking for the girl who begged. They will look for the flinch in your eyes, the slump in your shoulders. They will try to find the 'Omega' to confirm their own lies."

"And if they find her?"

"Then they win. But if they find a Queen? They will break themselves against you." He leaned in closer, his voice dropping low. "The secret to the Mask is not anger. Anger is loud. Anger is weak. The secret is indifference."

"Indifference?" Astraea asked, confused. "How can I be indifferent to the man who ruined me?"

"Because he is a nobody, Astraea," Fenris said, his eyes burning hot. "You must see Jaxon not as a monster, but as a ghost of a life that was beneath you. He didn't ruin you, he released you. He was the tool the universe used to send you to me. Why would you give a tool the satisfaction of your fear?"

Astraea took a deep breath, trying to channel his words. "Indifference. He is nothing. He is a ghost."

"Try it," Fenris urged. "Think of the moment he rejected you. Don't feel the pain. Feel the distance. See him as a small, desperate man clinging to a dying pack. Project that onto me."

Astraea closed her eyes. She reached back into the memory of the Altar. She felt the heat of the brand, the coldness of the rejection. But instead of letting the pain swallow her, she imagined herself rising above it.

She opened her eyes.

Fenris blinked. He felt a sudden, sharp prickle against his skin a cold, haughty silence that radiated from Astraea.

"Better," Fenris murmured, though he felt a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. "But you’re still holding your breath. A Queen breathes as if she owns the very air in the room. Slow it down. Let the silence speak for you."

"Like this?" Astraea asked. She slowed her breathing, letting her hands rest regally on her lap. She allowed the silver light of her Zenith blood to hum just beneath her skin.

"Yes," Fenris said, a look of profound pride crossing his face. "Now, imagine Verena. She will try to provoke you. She will call you names. She will try to remind you of your 'place.' What do you say to her?"

"I say nothing," Astraea replied, her voice smooth and cold.. "Why would a Queen answer a servant?"