Chapter 35: Truth and Consequences

(CORRINE)

“That’s not what I meant,” Locke snarls. “When did this happen? When did you and Corrine—” He can’t seem to form the words, apparently too enraged by the idea.

Erik smirks. “Around eight years ago. I found her on the palace grounds, badly injured. She and I are old acquaintances, you know.”

Locke struggles to speak, and when he looks at me, I see a strange emotion in his eyes. A look of betrayal.

I tear my gaze away. It hurts to look at him. But how dare he act like I’ve done something horrible when he was the one who betrayed me?!

“You had a child together?” Locke asks, his voice heavy and filled with something that has my wolf lurching inside my mind.

“Yes, we did.” Erik puts his arm around my waist.

“So, you’re his mate?” Locke looks at me. Why does he looks so anguished, like I have done him a terrible wrong?

I finally summon the strength to speak. “Did you expect me to come back to you? So you could finish me off?”

He flinches. “No. No, I would never have—Corrine, I never ordered your execution.”

My chest tightens, and I want to cover my ears. I don’t want to hear about the past from him. I don’t want to be faced with those memories. The last time I saw Locke and talked to him was in his office when I gave him the small snack I had made for him. I still remember how I felt, the tight, pained sensation in my chest at his words to Bella about how I was just a tool.

A tool that missed him every night waiting for him to come home.

A tool that was meant to be discarded when he finally got the real thing. A tool that believed in him till the bitter end.

I was so foolish back then, so desperate to survive, that I had clung to the idea of him, to the hope that he might care for me.

My body feels cold as I’m sent spiraling into the past.

Even in my wolf form, I wasn’t strong enough to fight the monsters that circled me in the Misty Forest. So, I ran. Injured, bleeding, I crawled to the edge of the Veil, a shimmering tower of light. I could hear the monsters gaining on me, and I had no reason to live—except for the possibility of the existence of a baby inside me.

I just wanted a chance. One more chance at life, with my child. “Erik”—I hold out my hands—”give Finn to me. I’m going to go wait inside.”

“No!” Locke snaps. “I’m not done talking to you.”

“Enough!” Erik looks really angry now. “You’re crossing a line, King Locke. Go inside, Corrine. I’ll meet you there.”

“Corrine!” Locke roars my name as I take Finn and begin walking away. Each step is heavy on the ground, and my heart is beating wildly. My mind is a tangled mess, but the weight of the quiet son in my arms is all I need to keep going.

Erik protected me.

He protected me from Locke, and I feel beyond grateful. I don’t know what I expected if it ever ultimately came down to it, but he had my back. I want to collapse to the ground, the relief is so immense.

The butler is waiting at the entrance, and he ushers me indoors. “I’ll fetch a healer for Master Finn.”

A healer?

I look down at Finn and realize, to my dismay, that he’s unconscious.

Panic is my first reaction, but his breathing is deep, and he seems fine. An assessment that the royal healer echoes when he finds us in a bedroom a couple of minutes later.

“Just passed out from the excitement and shock.” He gives me a meaningful look.

“Thank you, Jerry,” I reply, smiling shyly at him.

Jerry is Erik’s personal healer. He’s the one Erik brought me to when he found me bleeding and half dead in the forest. Healer Jerry is also the one who confirmed my pregnancy at the time. He was supposed to help me give birth, and when he found out I had opted for a home birth without his assistance, he was beyond pissed, scolding me about safety and health hazards.

My ears still burn when I’m reminded of the lecture I received from him. He sometimes reminds me of Sigrid.

For a moment, a pang of grief clogs my throat at the thought of the older woman who cared for me in my short time at the castle. My parting words to her were true. I’d never had a mother or experienced what having one could be like. With the way Sigrid treated me, I sometimes wondered if that was what it felt like.

“Give him something sweet to eat when he wakes up,” Jerry advises before running his eyes over my form with a critical gaze. “What about you? Have you been taking care of yourself? You look weak.”

“I’m fine,” I assure him. “I’ve been eating plenty of meat like you told me to.”

He gives me a dubious look but sighs. “Very well. You should come in more frequently for checkups. You’re very careless with your health.”

“I will, Jerry,” I lie, knowing he’s going to keep nagging me until he’s satisfied.

I wait till he’s gone to stroke Finn’s fur. He must have heard what Erik said about being his father. Is that what shocked him? Or was it how Locke treated him? I won’t find out before he wakes up, and when he does, I have a feeling he is going to have a lot of questions that I won’t be able to answer.

In all of his seven years, Finn has only asked me once about his father. When I told him I didn’t remember, he accepted that as the truth and moved on. I hoped he would never raise the topic again until he was at an age where I could explain a better version of events to him. As I run my fingers through his fur, I wonder if lying to him will be the right decision.

What is Locke even doing here? Why did Erik tell me to come if he knew Locke was also going to be here? Is this another one of Erik’s tricks?

I really do not understand this enigmatic king.

I press a kiss to Finn’s nose and wait. My excitable son isn’t easily scared, so his passing out tells me exactly how terrified he must have been.

I’m trying not to think about Locke. About how pained he looked to see me with Erik, how devastated, almost as if the idea physically hurt him.

Fury washes through me. The nerve! My fingers dig into the sheets of the bed Finn is lying in. How dare Locke look at me like that?

The anger is followed by a wave of fear. He found me. He knows I’m alive. What if he decides to use some unscrupulous means to get rid of me? What if he tells Bella and Ravenna that I’m alive and they—What if they decide to sow seeds of distrust in the elders of the Human Wolf Kingdom? What if the past repeats itself?

My vision is blurring.

All my hard work, everything I’ve done up till now, seems to have vanished in the wake of this turn of events. I stare blindly at the edge of the bed. As the years passed, I grew more and more confident. There was no way Locke would find me. That false sense of security had me feeling comfortable.

What was I thinking?

I should have taken Finn and moved deep inside a far-off human city! I should have cut ties with Erik and eliminated interactions with wolf society. I was so desperate to make money and give Finn everything I hadn’t had that I overlooked the dangers attached to my lingering presence around my own kind.

And now, I feel like a fool.

I wouldn’t have run into Locke if I had been smart and left when I had the chance.

I rest my head against my son’s small, unconscious body. “This is my fault. This is all my fault.”

“If you’re quite done blaming yourself,” comes Erik’s voice from the doorway, “maybe we should talk.”

I lift my head to look at him. He’s alone. I let out a sigh of relief. “Did he buy it?”

Erik walks over to me, glancing at Finn. “I can’t be sure. But he’s not happy.”

Tension crawls through me. “If this is going to start a conflict between the two kingdoms—”

“Don’t even think about running away,” he warns me. “But—”

“Nothing is going to happen to the two of you.” Erik pulls up a chair on the opposite side of the bed. “Locke wasn’t supposed to be here. He followed some Eastern rebels through the Veil, and he wanted my agreement to help track them down. If I had known he was coming, I wouldn’t have called you here.”

“That’s why the butler sent us to the palace gardens,” I realize.

Erik nods. “Locke showed up in my office out of the blue. He must have caught your scent from the open window because he suddenly flew out of it like a madman.”

“What do I do?” I rest my face in my hands for a moment before looking at him again. “I’m telling you right now, Erik, I’m not going to let Locke anywhere near my child or me. If I have to take Finn and disappear, I will!”

His eyes are resting on the boy. “Calm down, Corrine. You’re not going anywhere. I’ve already declared Finn as my heir to Locke. But I may have miscalculated how determined he would be to get you back.”

“Get me back?” Erik’s words rattle me. “What do you mean, get me back? What is he trying to do?”

“Exactly what I said.” Erik meets my gaze evenly. “He’s not happy with this new development. I don’t believe it’s going to damage the collaboration between the two kingdoms, but he’s definitely going to be a pain in the ass. He basically said as much.”

I blink uncomprehendingly at him. “So, what’s next?”

“The only solution is the one I offered you the other day. I can only offer you protection if you agree to become my mate. Locke can’t touch you in that case. But, Corrine, you only told me he was your mate. You never told me he was your fated mate.”

I don’t flinch from his sharp gaze. “You never asked. You never really asked anything, Erik. If you have questions, I can answer them. You just have to ask.”

Erik looks toward Finn again, and his voice becomes low. “Perhaps now is not the right time for questions. If you agree to be my mate, and the elders object, I can simply tell them that I had been expecting Griffin to be back by now, and that is why I have not gone ahead with the mating yet. Because I didn’t want to cement my heir’s position.”

I’m stunned. “Erik, are you really considering calling off the search for your brother?”

Erik falls silent for a moment. “I don’t know. But I do have to secure an heir for the kingdom. I may never stop looking for Griffin. If he comes back, the throne will be waiting for him, and Finn will be no worse off.”

What he’s saying make sense.

“So, we’re going to have a mating ceremony, then?” I ask slowly, accepting my destiny. There is no other way out of this, after all.

“Can I take that as agreement?” Erik shoots me a questioning look.

“If Locke finds out that you and I are not together, even if he doesn’t go after Finn, he’s definitely going to go after me. I don’t trust him not to kill

But if I am mated to you, he’s going to have to think twice about it. He cannot afford to start a war with the Human Kingdom, can he?”

Erik shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so. But if he hasn’t marked Ravenna, you are still his fated mate. For that bond to break, I will have to give you the mating mark. Are you mentally prepared for that?”

I open my mouth to say yes, but nothing comes out. I am, aren’t I?

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