Any sense of vindication Adel had been looking forward to had vanished as soon as she witnessed the brutality of the warrior's punishment. All she was left with instead was a nauseating feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“That was not necessary,” she said, pulling herself to her feet.
Ulric looked at her, his gaze distant. He beckoned his daughter forward, cupped her cheek with his palm, then pulled her into an embrace. Warring emotions fought within Adel's heart as she tried to reconcile her urge to pull away with the part of her that wanted to return her father's affection. She could not remember him hugging her since she was a child, back when Uriel was alive and the three of them had played together on the plains. The longing for those days shook her resolve, leaving her lost for worst as her body remained stiff and unyielding in her father's arms.
“I knew you had not forsaken us,” he said. “Even you would never betray your father, would you, Adel?”
She said nothing. Over Ulric's shoulder, her brother brushed a palm through his hair anxiously, looking as though he would rather be anywhere else at that moment. Something about her return seemed to have shaken him deeply, and it filled Adel with a similar unease.
“Where were you, Daughter?” the alpha said. “Wandering the lands? Seeking out the spirits? They say that is something many great seers do. There was talk at the gathering that you had joined another pack, but I put a stop to those lies.” He sighed. “I am so happy to see you again.”
“They were not lies,” Adel said, finding her voice at last. “I was in the south, with Neman's pack.”
Ulric let go of her so suddenly she almost staggered. “Why?” he almost barked the word into her face.
Adel lifted her chin, choosing her words carefully. “Does it matter? I learned from his seers. I needed to be away from this place.”
He looked her up and down, brow furrowing as he took in the sight of her strange new clothing. “You dress in the fur of our enemies.”
“Does it matter?” she repeated, shaking her head in exasperation. “I came back here because I learned of Alpha Kotal's death. Do you still mean to carry on fighting with his son?”
“We have to. We have so few warriors, we must strike fast. In the next few days, I think. The boy will not be expecting it.” Ulric nodded to himself, distracted once more. He began to pace around the den. “You were right, Daughter. We have to end this. I was a fool for not doing it sooner. This may be our last chance.”
“You do not have to fight! Make peace with Khelt. Let me speak to him myself if your pride will not let you. If you keep on doing this there will be nothing left of our pack at all.”
“Our pack?” Ulric gave her a dark look. “The pack I protected all these seasons while you were gone? No, Daughter, do not speak to me as if you have any claim over our clan. I will welcome you back into our fold. I will forgive this...” he gestured at her clothing, “betrayal. I will not even punish you. You are back where you belong, and that it what matters most.”
“Listen to me, Father, please! If you fight Khelt it will be the last challenge you ever make. It will be the end of this clan.”
“I know that!” Ulric growled. “You think I do not see?! This clan is on the brink of ruin. Kotal's attacks made us weak. The Sun People still come. This will be our last fight, and we must win it.”
Adel looked to her brother in desperation, but he was staring at the den's wall with his arms folded.
“You truly see no other way?” she said to her father.
“What other way is there?”
Adel winced, remembering the bargain Kotal had offered her before he died. It was even more unthinkable now than it had been then. As she looked at Ulric, she saw recollection flash in his eyes as well.
“You could submit to him,” she said. “Then no one else need suffer.”
Ulric glanced down for a moment, shaking his head. When he spoke he sounded weary. “If only I could.”
Adel's heart sank. “Then I cannot stay, Father. I hoped you had changed.”
“You cannot?” Ulric glared at her, suddenly angry. “You would return home, only to abandon us again when you do not get your way? Where will you go? Back to those dark beasts in the south?”
“I will go where I please.”
“You will go where I please!” Ulric grabbed her by the wrist, yelling for his warriors.
“Let go of me!” Adel struggled, only managing to pry one of her father's fingers loose before two large men stepped into the den and twisted her arms behind her back. She did not recognise either of them. “You cannot keep me here!”
“This is your home, Adel. It is where you belong.”
“It is not my home while you are still alpha!” Adel spat back, struggling furiously against her captors. She tried to take the shape of her wolf, but the warriors twisted her arms until she felt like her bones would break if she attempted the change. Her heart thumped desperately against her ribs, warmth building behind her eyes.
“Bind her if you have to,” Ulric said. “And watch her until she calms down.”
“You cannot watch me forever!”
The alpha did not reply, turning his back on Adel as the warriors dragged her out of the den.
—20—
Karel's Blade
Adel's brother stood staring at the rocks as his sister's cries faded into the distance. Why had she come back? Why had she done this to him? Even if it had been a betrayal, even if she had forsaken her own kin, at least she could have been happy. It had been the hardest challenge of Karel's life to forget what he had seen two years ago at the pool. For days it had tormented him, and only the guilt he felt for having beaten her had prevented him from telling their father.
He loved his sister, despite all her years of cold, stubborn, selfish disobedience. And his love, if only for that one time, had been enough to overcome his sense of loyalty to Ulric. He had given her a chance to go where she wanted, do what she pleased, and finally be free from the clan she seemed to hate.
By returning to stir more dissent, she had taken that chance and squandered it. She had spat in the face of his kindness.
“You had nothing to say to her?” Ulric said as he walked back to his seat.
Karel closed his eyes, remaining silent.
“I am thankful I still have one child I can be proud of. You are a good man, and you will be a strong alpha when I am gone.” He reached up to clap a hand on his son's shoulder. “You understand I only do what is best for her, don't you?”
Ulric's kind words only made the shame in Karel's heart burn stronger.
“Yes, Father,” he said.
“Perhaps once Khelt is bested she will finally stop all of this. We can be at peace again, and she will have nothing to worry herself over.” The alpha took a deep breath. “Or we shall fall in battle, and none of it will matter.”
“Even if we win, she won't stay!” Karel's sudden outburst made his father draw back. “She left to be with a man! She'll go back to him again, that is why she wants to leave so badly!”
Ulric's hard blue eyes narrowed. “How do you know this?”
Karel's shame overwhelmed him, forcing the young warrior to one knee as if it were a physical weight pressing down upon his soul. “Forgive me, Father. I am no better a child than her.” He screwed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth to hold back tears. If he wept now, he would only show his father how truly pathetic of a son he was. “I followed her the night she left. I saw them together. Her and a boy from Neman's pack.”
“One of them?” Ulric growled. “You kept this from me?”
“Forgive me, Father. I— I—”
“Now I know why she wanted no mate!” Ulric rose to his feet, shuddering with anger. “She'd betray her own clan to lie with our enemies. She wears the clothes of the Sun People. That girl— That stupid, stupid girl!”
Karel remained kneeling as his father raged. He did not think he had ever seen him so furious. Anger at his enemies was one thing, but betrayal from with
in his own pack incensed Ulric like nothing else. That it had come from his own daughter—and by extension now his son—seemed almost more than the alpha could endure.
“Of course she wants me to submit to Khelt.” Ulric laughed without mirth. “So she can run back to her own mate rather than standing with us. She was my honour, my pride, just like her sister! But she is nothing like Uriel. Lying to me, betraying me. I showed her so much patience. I never forced her to mate. I let her come to the gatherings, mix with the other packs, and now she—” The alpha caught himself, letting out a groan as he slumped back into his seat, face in his palms. “Foolish girl. Stupid, ignorant girl. She is still like a child.”
“Please, do not punish her for this. I was the one who lied,” Karel said.
“What good has punishing her ever done? I cannot help her.” Ulric jerked a hand in the air, as if casting something away. “Not even her own father. What has this clan come to? Have I...” He trailed off, looking down to stare at his son. “I want this to be over.”
“When we defeat Alpha Khelt, it will be!”
Ulric shook his head bitterly. “Then she will leave again, just as you said. And you know as well as I that Khelt's warriors are three times our number now, maybe more.”
“I will follow you against them, no matter what.”
“Will you? Or will you betray me again?”
Karel swallowed hard, still unable to meet his father's eyes. It seemed an age before Ulric spoke again.
“You know this boy's face? The one your sister ran away with?”
Karel nodded.
“I am tired of this fighting, Karel. I will die for my honour if I have to. I would even die for your sister, despite everything she has done. But if I died for her now, she would only forsake me again. In her foolishness she would run back to our enemies, fill her head with their ideas, wear their clothing, lie with their men.” His features contorted with anger. “There is nothing I can do to stop it.”
“Father?”
“If she must abandon us, then she will be with an alpha, not some rat from the south. She will be a true den mother.” He snorted. “She will have the peace she wants. In time she will thank me for it.”
“What do you mean?”
Ulric grimaced. “I will make a pact with Khelt. Offer Adel to him as a show of friendship, as his father wanted.”
“But he is our enemy!”
“I told you I would die to protect this clan from him!” Ulric roared. “But if I do, what becomes of your sister? Our honour will not even live on in her if she betrays us. At least this way she will have a chance to live as a daughter of mine should. She will be an alpha's mate, with power and status of her own.”
“What if she does not agree?”
“She will,” Ulric said. “She has asked me for this all her life. And you will make sure she has no reason to leave again.” He lifted Karel's chin, finally forcing the young man to look at him. “You hid the truth from me. What will you do to earn back my trust?”
“Anything, Father.”
“Then find this boy you saw her with, and kill him. She will not run again if she has no one to run to. Will you do this for me?”
Karel quivered beneath his father's gaze, forcing himself to nod.
Ulric's brow furrowed. “Good. Do not use your claws. If Neman's people find him, it would be better if they believed the Sun People did it.” He ran a hand through his son's hair, and with the other he pressed the copper knife into Karel's palm. “Go quickly. Even if Khelt refuses our offer, I will not let Adel choose the wrong mate.”
With his legs shaking beneath him, Karel nodded again and rose to his feet. He would do this. For his father. For his sister. For his pack. It was the best way for all of them now. If only Adel had stayed away...
Tucking the knife into his waist tie, he hurried out of the den and through the dwellings until he reached the plains. He brushed the lingering moisture from his eyes, gazing to the east. Neman's clan was a long way to the south, but perhaps he would not have to go that far. He remembered the place Adel had gone the night she left. He remembered how her scent had lingered in the soil along with the boy's, as if they had been there together many times before.
He knew where to begin searching.
* * * * *
The warriors took Adel to the same hut in which her father had kept the man of the Sun People captive years ago. When she refused to stop struggling, they bound her wrists and ankles between two supple branches apiece, wrapping tight cord around them until she could barely move. Short of pinning her down, they did not harm her, though that did not stop Adel from leaving the pair of them with several dozen vicious scratches from her fingernails.
If she rocked herself forward she could crawl awkwardly on her hands and knees, but her movement was so restricted she stood little chance of escaping. The two warriors sat outside the hut, one in the shape of his wolf, ready to drag her back inside if she attempted to leave. As her desperation mounted she considered trying to break her bindings by calling upon her own wolf, but the cords were supple and new, the sticks still green. Changing shape was more likely to bruise her legs into uselessness than it was to snap the restraints free.
Next she attempted to gnaw the cords loose with her teeth, but the ones around her wrists were made from tough leather, and as soon as her guards noticed what she was doing they stepped in to put a stop to it.
“We'll put a gag in your mouth if we have to, girl,” the two-legged one said.
Refusing to accept the hopelessness of her situation, Adel's mind raced to think of ways she might slip free of her bindings and escape. All she needed to do was get out of the den, then she could run back to the pool and leave with Jarek. The two of them were fast, and she doubted these new warriors knew the surrounding lands as well as her. All she needed was a head start, and she would be able to slip away.
Adel's anger became the focal point of her emotions, pushing aside any sorrow she felt. She had been a fool to come back. Her father had not changed. He would never change. The fact that his embrace had evoked a moment of longing in her only made the rejection hurt even more. Ulric was no longer content with sending his warriors to their deaths, he now had to try and keep her here against her will as well.
Sooner or later they would have to untie her bindings. Perhaps if she calmed herself down, allowed them to think she no longer planned to run, she would find her moment to escape. But as the hours stretched by it became harder and harder for the young seer to remain calm. How long would it be until her father set out to fight Khelt? She had heard runners being sent north shortly after the warriors finished binding her. She needed to be gone by then. The aftermath of such a confrontation was not something she desired to see, for part of her knew, deep down, that it would be all the more difficult to leave her pack behind if she had a chance to stay and help.
But what if Khelt won and came straight to the den with his warriors, ready to claim what remained of Ulric's pack for himself? She needed to leave. She had spent enough of her life fighting for the good of this doomed clan. The clan of her family. Her mother.
Adel bit at the bindings around her wrists again, hurting her teeth as she shook with a silent sob of frustration. She had to leave. She had to. It would break her to give in to her misguided sense of compassion again. Her hands slumped forward against her knees, and she stopped biting. She was afraid. All her life she had been afraid, but her strength of will had always risen up to overcome it. On the day she had left, her will had faltered. Would it falter again now?
The chirrup of night beetles sounded as Adel sat there in the hut, forehead pressed against her wrist bindings as she fought with her own fear. Was Jarek still waiting for her? Was he worried that she had not returned? How long would it be until her absence made him do something foolish?
The thought of Jarek being captured or killed by her father's warriors galvanised her into action again, and she began chewing at her bindings until one of the leat
her cords popped loose. She was hidden in the darkness now, and the guards no longer had their eyes on her.
A second cord had almost snapped when the sound of voices outside interrupted her. The warriors were on their feet, standing a few paces away with their arms held up to block someone from coming forward. A woman's voice spoke a few harsh words, and they relented, allowing the figure to step inside.
Adel looked up as her mother slid her lynx pelt headdress back from her scalp and knelt down, taking her by the hands in lieu of an embrace.
“I could not believe it was true. Your father told me you had returned, but the others seemed to think it was only the warriors telling stories.”
Adel averted her eyes, fighting against the urge to sob as Freia's weathered fingers curled around her own. “Don't. I must leave, Mother. I should never have returned.”
“Where have you been? Why has he done this to you?” The den mother ran her hands over the cruel bindings.
“It does not matter. Please, if you have ever loved me, untie these. I need only a moment to slip away.”
Freia's brow creased with strain. “You did not agree, did you? He told me you had.”
“Agree to what? I will never stay here while he is alpha.”
“He sent runners to Alpha Khelt earlier today. He means to offer you to him as his mate.”
Adel froze, her eyes widening in shock. Her stomach lurched. “Why?”
“For peace. He said it was what you always wanted.”
“No.” Adel shook her head desperately, a hysterical sob threatening to force its way up from her breast. “No! Not now! Not now!”
“Adel, he will take our warriors to fight if you don't, and your brother along with them.”
“He could submit!” Adel's voice cracked with emotion. “If he wants peace, he can submit! Why is he punishing me like this?!”
“You would be an alpha's mate, den mother to a powerful clan—”
“I do not want those things! Don't pretend he thinks this is a kindness!”
Freia sighed, squeezing her daughter's hands again. Adel tried to pull away, but the stiffness of the bindings prevented her.
Daughter of the Night: A Book of The Moon People Page 18
