Chapter <b>70 </b>
ATASHA’S POV
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Minutester, I sat outside in the courtyard, the cold air brushing against my cheeks as I lifted a cup of tea to my lips. The taste was bitter, but was at least enough to calm me down.
Before me, Reina knelt on the ground, her back bared, her voice raw with screams as Lucas brought the cane down again and again.
Her cries echoed across the post, each strike sharp enough to silence passing soldiers in their tracks. I didn’t flinch. I had expected the noise and the attention that came with it.
The pounding of hooves soon cut through the air. A dark stallion galloped into the yard, its rider hauling the reins hard as the beast slid to a stop. Halden Morrow swung down with surprising speed for a man his age, his cloak snapping behind him. His eyes went straight to his daughter, then to me.
“Mydy,” he said tightly, though his voice carried a tremor of fury. “I beg you, release her at once.”
“Lord Morrow… I have been waiting,” I said without looking at him.
“There must be some misunderstanding here… I- my daughter is harmless. I only wanted her toe to talk about logistics. How could you punish her for only wanting to talk to the Lord?<b>” </b>
I set my cup down on the table beside me. I can clearly hear the panic and anger in the man’s voice<i>. </i>What I also heard was the meaning behind his words. He wanted to paint me as someone jealous. Someone who just punished his daughter out of nowhere. I snorted. Then finally, I looked at him. “Are you going to ask me what your daughter did first, Lord Morrow?”
Halden’s face darkened. He turned to Reina.
“I did nothing!” she spat, seizing the moment. Her voice was ragged,ced with venom. “This bitch just-”
“It seems that Lady Reina is hell bent on acting like a dog. I will take this moment to treat her like one, Lucas,” I said without raising my voice. “Add another ten. Use at least fifty percent of your strength.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Lucas’s expression didn’t flicker as he raised the cane again. Reina’s curses dissolved into raw shrieks, and the sound carried over the yard.
The crowd thickened. Soldiers who had never seen me before, men who only knew me as a rumor, now stood shoulder to shoulder, watching. Their gazes were strange, weighing me as if
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trying to decide what kind of woman sat sipping tea while another was punished at her feet.
“You- “Halden’s hands curled into fists. “Enough of this—”
I stood slowly, brushing down the folds of my robe, and met his re. “Do you know what your daughter said to me?”
He didn’t answer. His eyes shifted to Reina, but she only sobbed, her earlier boldness gone.
“She imed that I bewitched the Lord,” I said, my voice clear enough for every ear in the yard to hear. “That I drugged him, cursed him, kept him locked away with my allure.” I let the words hang, then continued, “Tell me, Lord Morrow, does your daughter truly underestimate him so much? Does she look down on Lord Cassian so openly that she believes a wolfless girl from the south could control his judgment? Or is this something that your house believed as well?”
“What?” Surprise shed on Halden’s face.
I took a step forward. “Lord Cassian is the main shield of the North. The one who holds the walls when the beast tidees. He is feared, respected, obeyed. And yet here I stand, mocked, used, as though I were some sorceress strong enough to bend the Tyrant Lord himself.”
I pressed a hand against my chest. “I cannot even transform. I have no wolf. How could I possibly sway him? I am just a woman he brought home, a woman the council has mocked and doubted since the day I arrived. If your daughter can use me so carelessly, then what does that say of her respect for him? For the shield that protects us all?<b>” </b>
The murmurs around the yard swelled. Soldiers exchanged looks, some nodding faintly, others whispering. This was exactly the reaction that I expected.
Halden’s face hardened, his jaw working as though he wanted to spit back, but his words caught. I know he wasn’t expecting me to appeal to everyone’s emotions. He, along with the other council members, must have thought I was some stupid doll.
I watched as his shoulders sank slightly, and though his eyes still burned with swallowed it, pressing it down.
I
anger, he
gave him a small, almost tired smile. “I do not need your daughter’s approval, Lord Morrow, nor do I expect her respect, I know what I am, a wolfless omega the Lord chose to bring into his house, someone the council whispers about and mocks. But there are lines that should
never be crossed.”
I made my voice even louder, making sure that the others could hear my words. “I ask only that the council guard their tongues. Rumors and careless words strike deeper than arrows. They weaken the Lord’s standing, they weaken the North. And if I must remain the pitiful
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little girl theyugh at, then I will bear it. But what I will not allow–what I cannot allow–is for anyone, even the daughter of Halden Morrow, to speak as though Lord Cassian is a man so easily swayed, so easily diminished.”
Halden finally exhaled through his nose, his voice lower now, his earlier confidence stripped away. “I… see.”
“Do
you have questions?” I asked, watching him closely.
“N–No,” he said, though his jaw was tight. His eyes flicked toward Reina, who was still on the ground, her body trembling. His teeth ground together as if he were barely holding back his
anger.
“But Reina-”
“–will be punished ording to thews of the North,” I cut him off. “I already showed her leniency. Instead of rope, I instructed Lieutenant Lucas to use a weaker wood for the caning. That is the only concession she will have.” I lowered myself back into my chair, signaling the matter was settled. “Do you have any questions now, Lord Morrow?”
Halden’s fists clenched at his sides, but when his eyes met mine, he shook his head stiffly. “No.”
“Good. Now, take a seat beside me and enjoy the tea.” Again, I turned my attention towards Lucas and Reina. “Continue.”