The door opened, and I looked at her.
"Princess Elara. The old mating pact between us. Does it still stand?"
I had prepared myself.
If she refused,
I would bow and leave without another word.
After all, it was the Duskborne bloodline that had slighted her first.
Elara studied me for a long time.
"It stands."
On the first day of our mating bond, I secured the Alpha Trade Seal.
To repay Elara's trust, I threw myself into the work with even more drive than I'd had at the Crown Alpha's territory.
She told me that every moon-coin the territory earned would be recorded under my name.
"Princess, could it be that you actually like me?"
I was genuinely curious.
She only smiled and said nothing.
Elara was a pack princess who had never been favored by the High Council.
But I would make sure every she-wolf in Moonhaven envied mine.
Before long, Princess Elara's territory, once half in ruins, had a brand-new timber-and-stone wing rising above its walls.
Things at the Crown Alpha's territory, however, had taken a different turn.
Edric declared that the stench of commerce would no longer be allowed to corrupt any wolf's spirit.
Every servant's monthly wage was slashed to a single copper moon-coin.