Alaric watched me with something like amusement playing at the corners of his mouth. "Then perhaps you should ask your uncle why he gave his territories and tributes to an outsider like me, rather than to a nephew he supposedly loved like his own pup."
I went rigid. My fingers crushed the edge of the will.
Cold sweat dripped down, one bead at a time, splattering onto the parchment. The words "Heir: Kael Stormshadow" blurred and ran beneath the moisture.
My uncle had never taken a mate. He had raised me—an orphaned pup who lost both parents when I was barely two winters old—as if I were his own blood.
I had grown up at his side. He sent me to the most prestigious training grounds for young wolves. He gave me every comfort the pack could offer.
Before I had even completed my coming-of-age trials, he brought me into the pack's inner circle to learn how territory was managed and tributes were collected. He taught me everything he knew about leading.
Despite my elder uncle's fierce opposition, he had declared all his holdings would pass to me—his sister's son—leaving not a single acre to his own nephew by blood.
Because of this, my uncle and my elder uncle had become bitter enemies.
My uncle loved me so deeply. He would never give his legacy to someone I had never once seen.
Something was wrong here. There had to be something wrong.
I forced myself to calm down and turned to the Law-Speaker. "I demand to see the recording of the will's signing."
A blood-oath will required proper witnessing—at least two Law-Speakers, a tribute-keeper, and a healer present at the ceremony.
They had to confirm the one making the oath was of sound mind, acting of free will, and that the contents truly reflected their wishes.
My uncle must have been coerced.
I fixed my gaze on Alaric, searching his face for any flicker of panic.
But his expression remained unchanged. He calmly retrieved the moon-crystal recording.
I watched without blinking, from beginning to end. My uncle's mind was perfectly clear throughout.
At the very end, when he carved his name into the binding seal, he pressed so hard the stylus tore through the parchment.
My head roared with white noise.
How could this be?
There was something hidden here. There had to be something hidden!
I lunged forward and seized Dorian Ravenhart by the collar of his robes, glaring into his eyes.