Silence followed that.
Not uncomfortable. The silence of seven wolves absorbing something and deciding whether to push further.
Aldric didn't push.
He simply nodded once, slowly, the nod of a man who had understood something and filed it correctly.
"Then we prepare," he said.
"Yes," I said.
"For challenges."
"For whatever comes," I said. "Wraithbone doesn't respond to pressure by moving faster than it should. We hold our position. We make clear what she is and what that means. We let anyone who wants to test it understand exactly what they're testing."
Coren looked at me. "And if someone moves against her directly?"
I held her gaze.
"Then they find out what it means to move against the Alpha King's mate," I said. "And against a Celestial wolf."
The table absorbed that.
Nobody a
