The Name They Wanted Me to Sign

Mrs. Holt found the missing entry herself.

She brought the laundry book to Rusk while Ives checked Lucien's pulse. For the first time since I met her, the housekeeper looked frightened of something other than disorder.

"The maid has not reported for her next shift."

Rusk took the book.

Lucien looked at me.

"The scarf carries your scent."

His wolf had begun withdrawing into his body for longer periods. When it emerged, it sometimes settled over my discarded shawl, recognizing it as something safe.

I understood at once.

Rusk doubled the guard and ordered every servant accounted for. For an hour, nothing happened.

Then a familiar knock sounded at the outer door.

The palace physician stood beyond it with a sealed case and an order bearing the king's private mark. He had examined Lucien on my first morning. Rusk kept him outside while a runner went to verify the order.

The physician did not argue.

Instead, he opened the case.

My scarf was wrapped around a narrow black instrument shaped like a thorn.

The wolf rose from beside the bed.

"Lucien," I said.

He was already reaching for me.

The physician snapped the thorn between his hands.

The sound was small. What followed was not.

Every light in the room flared blue. The wolf surged toward the door, then folded violently backward, as though a chain had caught it around the throat.

Lucien fell against me.

Rusk struck the physician before he could reach for anything else. Guards poured through the doorway.

I heard shouting, metal, the crack of the case under someone's boot.

Lucien's hand found mine.

"Do not take it," he said.

The darkness beneath his skin had spread to his chest.

I understood what he meant. The pain was already pulling at the connection between us, offering itself like a weight I could lift if only I stopped resisting.

I followed my mother's circles instead.

Breathe. Hold my own ground. Guide, do not surrender.

For an instant, I felt the wolf answer.

Then Lucien went still.

Ives pushed me aside and pressed her fingers to his throat.

"He is alive. Give me room."

I stood with my hands hanging uselessly.

Rusk dragged the physician to his feet. A silver chain had emerged from beneath the man's collar. Its seal bore the same three-pronged design I had seen on Severin's signet ring.

The captain saw it too.

He ordered a guard to preserve the chain and the broken thorn separately.

Before he could question the physician, the outer gallery filled with soldiers in council colors.

Lord Severin entered behind them.

Derek and his father followed.

For one bewildered moment, I could not understand how they had arrived so quickly.

Then I understood perfectly.

"The king has been informed that the Luna Princess has tampered with the heir's treatment," Severin said. "She will be held pending an emergency hearing."

Rusk moved in front of me.

"This man attacked His Highness."

"And will answer for it. Place him in my custody."

"No."

The single word changed the room.

Severin looked at the captain as though noticing an obstacle he had expected to be furniture.

"You are refusing a council order."

"I am preserving a prisoner who attempted to kill the prince in front of four witnesses."

Ives stood at Lucien's bedside, her face bloodless.

"The prince cannot be moved," she said.

Severin's gaze flicked to the bed.

I saw the satisfaction before he concealed it.

"Then Captain Rusk may remain to guard him. The woman comes with us."

I looked at the soldiers. Too many. Too close to the open doorway and the bed.

Rusk's hand rested on his sword.

I touched his sleeve.

"Stay with him."

He turned toward me.

I had never seen so much anger held so carefully in a man's face.

"I will not leave you without protection."

"Send one of your people with me. Keep the others here."

Severin agreed too readily.

I turned to Lucien before they took me away. His hand lay open on the blanket.

I put my palm against it.

"I will come back," I whispered.

They brought me to a small council chamber, not a cell. Its upholstered chairs made what happened there seem almost respectable.

Derek waited until Severin left, then placed a declaration on the table.

It stated that I had maintained an intimate relationship with him after entering the palace. Any pregnancy could therefore be his. It also claimed that I had administered unauthorized substances to the prince.

I read it without sitting.

"No."

"Nora, listen carefully. Severin can have you executed for poisoning the heir. I can still make this look like a frightened girl trying to escape an unwanted marriage."

He pointed to the signature line.

"Admit the affair. Say you acted without understanding the treatment. My father will take you into protective custody."

"There was no affair."

"There does not need to have been one."

The casualness of it made me feel sick.

He stepped closer, then stopped when my guard moved.

"Do you think your prince will defend you now? He cannot even lift his head."

I held the paper until my fingers stopped trembling.

"You do not want me," I said. "You want everyone else to believe you can still claim me."

His eyes hardened.

"I am trying to keep you alive."

"You put a drugged cloth over my face and threatened my brother. You do not get to rename that afterward."

For the first time, he glanced at the guard.

She had heard every word.

I tore the declaration down the middle and laid both halves on the table.

"I have never slept with you. I will say that in front of the king. I will say everything else too."

He left without the paper.

Hours passed. The guard brought water and told me Owen remained with Rusk's men.

Then Mrs. Holt appeared at the door carrying a sealed packet.

She had permission to deliver fresh clothes. Beneath them lay the original meeting authorization, the household access book, and a brief note from Ives.

The signature on the authorization belonged to Severin's secretary. The physician had entered the prince's apartments repeatedly under Severin's personal exemption, even while other staff were barred.

I looked up at the housekeeper.

"Why are you helping me?"

Her mouth tightened.

"Because I saw a title before I saw a frightened woman. That was my failure. I will not repeat it."

She did not ask me to make her feel better.

I tucked the packet inside my dress.

As she turned to leave, she looked toward my guard.

"There is one other thing. The prince's wolf has disappeared."