I carried the last dish into the hall and stopped dead in the doorway.
Rosalind was in my seat at Caelan's right hand.
That chair had been mine for two years, and nobody had ever asked me if I wanted it.
Now she sat in it with her borrowed shawl folded over the back, and she looked like she belonged there.
Caelan: Miles. Come here, lad. Take my chair.
He said it easy, the way a man says a thing he has already decided.
The boy's feet didn't even reach the floor.
Caelan gave up the Alpha's seat like it cost him nothing, and he looked happier than I had seen him in months.
I stood there with the fish getting cold in my hands and not one person moved.
Avery: Where do you want me?
Caelan: Put the dish down and find a place, Avery. You know how a table works.
The whole hall went quiet. I felt every eye on my back like a hand.
Torin: Take my seat, Avery.
Caelan: She's not taking your seat. Sit down, Torin.
Torin's jaw worked, but he sat.
Rosalind: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take anyone's place. Miles just gets shy around new faces.
She said it so soft and kind that it sounded like an apology and landed like a slap.
Caelan put his hand over hers right there on the table.
Two years, and he had never once done that for me.
I ate on the bench by the fire with my plate on my knees, like a servant who had been allowed to stay.
Two years of keeping his books and his house, and this was my place at his table.
Then he said my name, and for one stupid second my heart lifted.
Caelan: Avery. Move your chest to the ledger room tonight.
Avery: What?
Caelan: Your chest. Your things. There's a cot in the ledger room.
I set my fork down before my hand could start shaking.
Avery: That's my room. I've slept in it for two years.
Caelan: And now Rosalind needs it. It's next to Miles, and the boy cries at night.
He said it like a man explaining the weather.
Avery: So I'm to sleep with the ledgers now.
Caelan: You're to do as I say and stop making a scene at my table.
A scene. I hadn't raised my voice once.
Torin: Caelan. Not in front of the pack.
Caelan: She's my wife. I'll speak to her however I want.
Nobody said another word for me. Not one.
I carried my plate to the kitchen and washed it myself, because the girl who washed dishes had gone home hours ago.
My hands were steady in the water. That was the worst part, how steady they were.
Upstairs I opened my chest and looked at everything I owned.
Two dresses, a winter coat, my mother's comb, and two years of my life that fit in one box.
He hadn't even looked at me while he said it. Not once.
A man doesn't have to hate you to put you out of your own room. He only has to stop seeing you.
So that was my marriage. Not a love story. A status arrangement with a chair at the end of the table.
I could carry the chest down tonight and sleep beside his ledgers, and keep his house, and watch her sit at his right hand.
Or I could stop being the woman who waits to be chosen.
But Niall's medicine is tied to my vow, and I don't know how to be brave and keep my brother alive at the same time.