Chapter 5 - The Castle That Remembered Its KingThe Obsidian Peaks appeared at sunrise.
Rowena had seen mountains from city rooftops.
She had never understood them.
Not until she stood beneath them.
Black cliffs rose through clouds.
Snow covered their highest edges.
Waterfalls spilled down rock faces.
And carved directly into the largest mountain stood Blackstone Keep.
Nathaniel’s home.
His kingdom.
The castle looked less built than grown from stone.
Towers rose like claws.
Bridges connected cliffs.
Wolf banners bearing Gabriel’s silver thorn symbol hung where Nathaniel’s black crown once flew.
Nathaniel stared.
He said nothing.
Rowena watched his jaw tighten.
Elara stood beside him.
“It gets worse inside.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“What has he done?”
“Taxes doubled.”
“Why?”
“Army expansion.”
“Against who?”
“Everyone.”
Elara’s voice became bitter.
“He tells the packs humans are preparing invasion. Tells humans wolves plan raids. Then sells protection to both.”
Rowena frowned.
“That sounds familiar.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“Vincent.”
“Exactly.”
Power created a surprising lack of creativity.
Their group had grown.
Elara brought seven loyal wolves.
Matilda contacted old healers.
Three border captains quietly pledged themselves once they saw Nathaniel.
By noon, twenty-six wolves followed him.
Not enough to storm Blackstone Keep.
Enough to start a rebellion.
Nathaniel refused.
“No civil war.”
One captain protested.
“Gabriel will not leave willingly.”
“Then we remove him publicly.”
Rowena understood.
The coronation.
Thousands of wolves from every northern pack would be present.
If Nathaniel appeared before them alive, Gabriel’s legitimacy cracked immediately.
If Rowena could invoke the Queenmaker Seal…
It might shatter completely.
Might.
Rowena disliked that word.
They hid in abandoned silver mines beneath the eastern mountain.
Ironically, the mines were too contaminated for healthy wolves.
But Nathaniel’s group used old human tunnels where the silver veins had been exhausted centuries earlier.
At dusk, Elara spread a map.
“The throne hall has four entrances.”
Nathaniel pointed.
“Five.”
Everyone looked.
“There is a servants’ passage behind the western altar.”
Elara frowned.
“I never knew that.”
“I used it to escape lessons.”
Rowena smiled.
“You?”
“I was twelve.”
“A rebellious prince.”
“No.”
Elara laughed.
“He once hid in the kitchens for eight hours because Father wanted him to learn diplomatic table settings.”
Nathaniel glared.
“Elara.”
Rowena looked delighted.
“Please continue.”
“No.”
For a few moments, they felt almost like an ordinary family.
Then a messenger arrived.
Bad news.
Gabriel had captured two loyal clan leaders.
Execution at sunrise.
Nathaniel stood.
“We move tonight.”
Elara shook her head.
“Then you reveal yourself before the coronation.”
“Yes.”
“That gives Gabriel time to prepare.”
“He is killing people because he suspects they support me.”
“He has killed people for seven months.”
Nathaniel flinched.
Elara softened.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
He looked at the map.
“I should have returned sooner.”
“You were chained.”
“I survived.”
“That was your job.”
Nathaniel stared.
Elara continued.
“Survive first. Save people second.”
Rowena looked at Nathaniel.
“Your sister is smarter than you.”
“Yes.”
Elara smiled.
“Finally.”
They compromised.
A rescue team would enter through the prison tunnels.
Nathaniel would not go.
He hated that.
Rowena noticed.
“You cannot personally solve everything.”
“Apparently everyone learned this sentence while I was gone.”
“Maybe because you need it.”
The rescue succeeded.
Mostly.
Both clan leaders survived.
One rebel wolf died.
His name was Tomas Reed.
Twenty-seven years old.
New father.
Nathaniel stood beside the body when they returned.
No crown.
No throne.
Yet everyone waited for him to speak.
Nathaniel knelt.
Closed Tomas’s eyes.
Then said, “His family will never want for anything.”
An older wolf replied, “If we win.”
Nathaniel looked up.
“When.”
Rowena felt the certainty.
Not arrogance.
Responsibility.
This was the king underneath the chains.
Later she found him alone near the mine entrance.
Snow fell beyond the rock.
“You blame yourself.”
“Yes.”
“You did not kill Tomas.”
“He died for me.”
“He died for what Gabriel took.”
Nathaniel said nothing.
Rowena sat beside him.
“My father used to gamble because he believed the next hand would fix the last one.”
Nathaniel looked toward her.
“He would lose twenty silver, then risk forty trying to recover it.”
“Why tell me this?”
“Because guilt can work like gambling.”
Nathaniel frowned.
“You lose someone, then risk more people trying to make the first loss meaningful.”
He understood.
Rowena continued.
“Don’t spend lives proving Tomas mattered.”
“What do I do?”
“Win in a way that stops more Tomas Reeds.”
Nathaniel looked at her.
“You should have been born royal.”
Rowena laughed.
“No thank you.”
“I mean it.”
“That is because you didn’t grow up in my room.”
Nathaniel’s gaze softened.
“You would make a good queen.”
Rowena’s smile disappeared.
The subject neither had addressed.
If he reclaimed the throne.
If she accepted the bond.
Queen.
She stared toward the snow.
“I don’t know if I want that.”
“I know.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
Nathaniel smiled faintly.
“But it is your choice.”
Rowena touched his hand.
“Thank you.”
A howl interrupted.
Not alarm.
Signal.
Someone approaching.
The rebels prepared weapons.
A single rider entered the valley.
Human.
Rowena recognized him immediately.
Vincent Malone.
Her stomach dropped.
Nathaniel stood.
Vincent dismounted slowly.
Twenty wolves surrounded him.
He looked extremely uncomfortable.
“Rowena.”
She stared.
“How did you find me?”
Vincent held up the debt ledger.
“Your father’s note contains a tracking sigil.”
Rowena’s face drained.
Nathaniel growled.
Vincent raised both hands.
“I’m not here to collect.”
“Then why?”
“To survive.”
Nathaniel stepped closer.
“Explain.”
Vincent looked around.
“I lent Rowena’s father fifty thousand because someone ordered me to.”
Rowena froze.
“What?”
“I never met your father before the loan.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It wasn’t supposed to.”
Nathaniel’s eyes sharpened.
“Who ordered it?”
Vincent swallowed.
“Severin Black.”
The royal historian.
Gabriel’s adviser.
Rowena stared.
“Why my father?”
Vincent looked at her.
“Because they were looking for Agnes Vale’s descendant.”
The mine became silent.
“They found records connecting Agnes to your father.”
Nathaniel’s voice turned lethal.
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
Rowena stepped forward.
“My father’s gambling?”
“Real.”
Vincent looked ashamed for perhaps the first time in his life.
“But the debt was encouraged.”
“What does that mean?”
“We kept extending credit.”
“Why?”
“To put pressure on him.”
Rowena’s face hardened.
“What did you want?”
“Information about the coin.”
Her hand moved instinctively toward the Saint’s Tear.
Vincent nodded.
“That.”
Nathaniel seized Vincent by the coat.
“You threatened to enslave her.”
Vincent’s face went white.
“I was following—”
“Finish that sentence carefully.”
Vincent swallowed.
“Orders.”
Nathaniel shoved him against stone.
Rowena touched Nathaniel’s arm.
He stopped.
She looked at Vincent.
“My father died because of this?”
Vincent hesitated.
Wrong choice.
Rowena’s voice sharpened.
“Did you hurt him?”
“No.”
“Did Severin?”
“I don’t know.”
“Truth.”
“I don’t know.”
Rowena believed him.
That somehow made it worse.
Nathaniel released Vincent.
“Why come here?”
“Gabriel is going to kill me.”
“Why?”
“Because you escaped.”
Vincent laughed nervously.
“Apparently selling the missing Alpha King for one copper was not considered successful management.”
Rowena almost smiled despite herself.
Nathaniel did not.
Vincent continued.
“Severin told Gabriel the Queenmaker had been located.”
“How?”
“The coin activated.”
Rowena looked at Nathaniel.
At the auction.
When she touched him.
Two hidden bloodlines recognizing each other.
Vincent reached into his coat.
Twenty weapons rose.
He slowly removed a sealed letter.
“I stole this.”
Nathaniel took it.
The royal seal belonged to Gabriel.
The letter contained one page.
Nathaniel read.
His face changed.
Elara stepped closer.
“What?”
He handed it to her.
Rowena read over her shoulder.
The message was addressed to all northern captains.
Upon completion of coronation, execute Nathaniel Ashcroft immediately if captured.
Elara Vale descendant is to be preserved until the Queenmaker rite is completed.
Afterward eliminate her.
Rowena read the final line twice.
Eliminate her.
Nathaniel took the letter.
“You are not entering the throne hall tomorrow.”
Rowena laughed.
“No.”
His eyes flashed.
“No?”
“You heard me.”
“Rowena.”
“They need my blood for the ceremony.”
“That is why you stay here.”
“That is why I go.”
He stared.
She continued.
“If Gabriel needs a Queenmaker to complete the coronation, what happens if I refuse him?”
Matilda answered from behind them.
“The mountain will not seal his claim.”
Nathaniel looked toward the healer.
Matilda nodded.
“She is right.”
Nathaniel looked betrayed by reality.
Rowena almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
Vincent coughed.
“There’s another problem.”
Nathaniel turned.
“What?”
“Gabriel has a Queenmaker.”
Silence.
Rowena frowned.
“What?”
“Another woman.”
Nathaniel looked at Matilda.
“Impossible.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Severin found one.”
“Who?”
Vincent’s answer changed everything.
“Agnes Vale.”
Rowena stopped breathing.
“My grandmother is dead.”
Vincent looked at her.
“No.”
Nathaniel felt Rowena’s hand go cold in his.
May you like
Vincent continued.
“Your grandmother is alive.”
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