Chapter 194: A Royal Case Of Checkmate

A card is more powerful unplayed. The moment it’s played, the opponent reacts, adjusts, and builds new arguments around it.

Alpha Thunderfang had held the Starborne paternity card for as long as he could.

He played it the way a man pulls a fire alarm. Not because he wanted to. Because the building was burning and the woman inside it couldn’t smell the smoke.

"You are implying," Edwards stated slowly, "that Alpha Starborne put his own daughter in silver, and is now attempting to mate two of his children to one another."

"I am not implying it, Grand Chancellor. I am stating it. That is precisely what is occurring." He did not soften a word of it. "By Helix law, bastard children are recognized. It is the entire reason my brother sits in line for the Thunderfang throne. And there is a Starborne princess sitting on the Thunderfang throne as we speak. The Moonfire holds her bloodwork on file. It holds Celeste’s. The two can be compared this instant. My Master Healer is present and can produce both sets, under oath, before this council, without leaving her seat. Make no mistake about any of it."

Astra gave a single nod. She had been sitting in that chamber the entire session like a loaded weapon in a display case and was ready to fire, completely over this.

The hall came apart.

"Starborne’s daughter—"

"He sold his own child into silver and no one at the Moonfire flagged the bloodwork—"

"The fertility markers, Grand Chancellor, that is how she qualified, it was in the data the entire time—"

"If this is true, the slave in that chamber outranks half the women in this room by blood—"

Edwards let it run longer than he had let anything run all session. When he finally raised his hand, the quiet that followed had a different texture to it.

"In light of this new information," he intoned, measured, "the High Council will reconvene on this matter at a later date, to determine the woman’s eligibility and to establish how we intend to proceed."

"That is fair," Alpha Thunderfang said, with no heat in his voice.

But that tone was the one he used when he was about to deliver a checkmate and every officer in that chamber knew it.

"And in light of new information regarding the safety of my Luna Queen, Thunderfang will hold the Starborne princess in our custody until this council has reached its decision."

Edwards looked at Alpha Thunderfang the way a chess player looks at an opponent who has just set a piece down on a square that was not supposed to exist.

"You agreed to return the Starborne princess. That agreement was rendered before this very council, under an hour ago."

"And the situation has changed within that hour, Grand Chancellor." Alpha Thunderfang’s tone held steady. "You revoked my mate’s status. I am adjusting my position in response. Starborne’s daughter remains in Thunderfang custody until my wife’s safety is guaranteed by this council in writing."

"The Starborne matter and the Luna eligibility matter are two separate proceedings, Alpha Thunderfang. You cannot hold a foreign princess as collateral against a ruling concerning your mate."

"With respect, Grand Chancellor, this council merged them itself. You discussed sterilizing my wife in the same session you ordered Celeste Starborne’s return. You tied these two women together with your own ruling. I am simply keeping them tied until the connection serves my pack, rather than Starborne’s."

The Grand Chancellor’s hologram brightened a fraction, the projection responding to whatever his blood pressure was doing on the far end of the feed.

"You are binding the release of a foreign princess to a ruling on your mate’s eligibility, Alpha. That is not negotiation. That is leverage."

"Yes, Grand Chancellor. It is."

???

THUNDERFANG KEEP - ALPHA’S CHAMBERS

Nova surfaced slowly, the way you come up out of deep water, and blinked at the room until it decided to hold still.

She was in a bath.

The water was gold.

In Alpha Thunderfang’s bathing chamber, in his tub, the water around her glowing soft and molten like someone had melted sunlight and poured it in.

That should have alarmed her. It did not.

She was a little confused, if she was honest. Her memory was fog, soft at every edge, nothing with a hard line she could grab. She blinked again, trying to assemble the last thing she knew for certain, and could not quite find it.

Then she registered the arms around her, and gasped.

"Hey, baby. It’s just me, Derek. I’m here."

"D-D-Derek?"

He turned her around in the water, fast, and then his mouth was everywhere, pressing against her hair, her temple, her cheek, nuzzling into the side of her neck, holding her against him with both arms like she might dissolve if he loosened his grip by an inch.

Her forehead found the curve of his neck and stayed.

She gripped him like a current might pull her away. He held onto her like the coma might take him back.

"I was so goddamn worried about you," he croaked against her skin.

"I was worried about you too." Her voice broke. Tears came up, honest and fast, surprising her with how much was behind them. "I missed you."

She had grown to care for him so much. They had only been mates for five days before the coma took him, and it didn’t seem like it should be enough time to feel this hollowed out by his absence, but it had been, and she had, and the relief of him being warm and awake and holding her was almost too big for her chest.

"Nova, don’t cry." His hand cradled the back of her head. "Fuck. No crying. It’s not allowed."

"When did you wake up?" she whispered after a few minutes.

"After pack initiation. Do you remember what happened?" His tone was extremely neutral in a way that felt off.

She frowned against his chest, reaching for it. She walked up to the fire, her hand went into the flame, and then pain.

She reached for more and there was no more. The memory stopped at the pain like a road that ran into a cliff. Everything beyond the edge was dark and the dark was not giving anything back.

And then her blood ran cold.