Page 127 of The Wolf King

The weak morning sun shines on the two dresses laid out on Callum’s bed. Callum retrieved them for me, not wanting me to encounter any Wolves while wearing only his shirt. Now he sits his armchair, looking out of the window, with a pensive look on his face. He’s fiddling with the button of his cuff.

If today wasn’t such a big day, I might be worrying that he regrets what happened last night.

But today, I meet with the Wolf King. I have no time to be dwelling on stubborn alphas, or the things that he did to me with his tongue.

I look between the two costumes I instructed Callum to bring me.

The first impression I make with his king is important and I have a difficult choice to make.

One garment is white and simple. It would make me look innocent and demure, like a perfect princess, a perfect doll.

The other is the black dress that caught my eye when I first arrived here. It’s striking, with intricate lace sleeves and a high collar. It is something someone important would wear, someone powerful. I run my fingers down the dark material, tempted by the power it seems to hold.

The two are polar opposites.

“Which one would your king like best?” I ask.

Callum slides his gaze from the mountains, to me. “Hm?”

I place my hands on my hips. “Which dress?”

“They’re both bonnie. You’ll look beautiful whatever you wear.”

I exhale. “That’s not the point.”

He raises his eyebrows and looks confused.

I shake my head. “Never mind. You are truly useless.”

He grins, then shrugs, moving his gaze back to the window. I cannot tell whether it is what we did last night that troubles him, or the upcoming meeting with the king.

Either way, I have more important things to be worrying about right now.

I eventually settle on the white dress, deeming the black too threatening. I was dressed in white the first time I was paraded in front of Sebastian, and though the outcome wasn’t favorable to me, it gained the best outcome for my kingdom.

I comb my fingers through my hair, then pull on my boots.

“I’m ready,” I say, finally.

He turns his head, and offers me a genuine smile, his eyes bright in the morning light. “You look perfect.”

“Are you sure?”

“Aye.” He opens his mouth as if to say something, then seems to think better of it. He runs a hand over his mouth, then turns his gaze back to the grey sky. “We’ll head down in half an hour.”

I don’t think I can wait that long. Not with Callum in such an odd mood, my thoughts consumed with what I let him do to me last night, and my doomed future creeping ever closer.

Something black catches my eye on the stone floor by the armchair—giving the whirlwind inside my chest a focal point. I pick up Blake’s collar.

He said he needed Callum alive. For what purpose?

He said some other horrible things about me, too. And he kissed me.

“I’m going to return this,” I say, holding up the collar.

Callum turns his head to look at me, his eyes momentarily hardening on the obsidian stone at the collar’s center.

His nostrils flare, then he smiles.

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