The Unforgiving Moon

70.

"I will send word for him," Lotta said. 

Aven grumbled and shook his head. "No. He must be retrieved personally by someone in this room. There will be gossip enough as it is about bringing him up here; I will not further suspicion."

Lotta dipped her chin. "I will go get him. My men found them and brought them here, they will know where he is."

"When you come back, the boy is to enter this room alone." Aven then pointed his chin toward Benjamin. "Take him with you. Escort him to the dungeons."

Benjamin opened his mouth to protest, but I beat him to it.

"You can't do that," I hissed, and I moved to block Lotta from reaching him. 

"And why is that?" he asked.

My blood heated. "He is here as a guest. An ally."

"I have agreed to neither of those," Aven replied, dryly. 

I had turned toward Aven, and that had been my mistake. Lotta—my friend—had reached for Benjamin. I only noticed when he tried to wrestle his arm out of her reach, but her grip was too strong.

"Let go of him," I sneered.

"You will stand down," Aven ordered me, with a sharp tongue. "Or would you rather I send him to the dungeons with Shanza as an escort?"

My heart thumped—was this a joke to him? 

"He's like a father to me," I objected.

"And he is my enemy," Aven sneered back. "One who has seen too much because of your outburst."

"I would never say a word to endanger Sari," Benjamin bit.

Aven's icy stare turned toward Benjamin—and my heart wrenched at the sight. "That's a risk I cannot take. Now, I suggest you go willingly. We can force your hand, too, and in that case, I will make sure your family joins in those dungeons."

I heard Benjamin's heart racing—Moons, I felt it, too. But he clenched his jaws, and made no further objections. "We will talk soon," he promised me, as he followed Lotta out of the room.

My friend barely bothered to look at me, for whatever reason I did not particularly care about.

"He's done nothing wrong," I snarled, once Lotta closed the door behind them.

"I disagree," Aven bit, "But in this particular case he's being sent to the dungeons because of something you did wrong."

I huffed. "So you punish him for my actions? Is that how this pack is run?"

My blood boiled, now. 

"Leave us," Aven ordered. Feytan left immediately, but Shanza whimpered something about missing the best part. Her nose bled again as she left the room.

"Get a fucking grip on yourself," Aven sneered. "You can disagree with my decisions all you want, but you will not make a mockery of how I run my pack like that."

"I am not making a mockery of anything," I said. "You're sending my family to the dungeons, how the fuck am I supposed to react to that?"

"I don't particularly care how you react to that, as long as you remember your place."

"And what exactly is my place, these days? It seems to differ depending on your specific mood."

"Your place is behind me," he growled as he stepped closer. His presence became suffocating. "You chose me at your Ascension, not him."

"Have I not proven my loyalty to you over and over again?" I asked, as the bones under my skin turned darker and darker. 

"That is the only reason I am not killing him for what he saw," Aven bit back. "I understand your objections to this decision, but I have a pack to protect."