Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Your face is harder than hers
Arion’s head snapped to the side.
His golden hair swept across his face.
For several breaths, the entire clearing became so quiet that the crackling fire behind Riverbone sounded deafening.
No one moved.
No one blinked.
Even the crying cubs among the survivors forgot to cry.
Their prince had been slapped.
Not threatened.
Not insulted.
Slapped.
Right across the face.
Arion slowly turned back.
A bright red handprint spread across his cheek.
His amber eyes stared at Swanly as though she had suddenly grown a second head.
"You..."
Swanly shook out her aching hand.
"Your face is harder than hers."
Someone in Riverbone choked.
Raku turned his cough into a growl and looked away.
Thalara leaned toward him.
"Why did you swallow your laugh?"
"I did not laugh."
"You did it inside your throat."
Arion’s lion ears flattened.
"Swanly, you struck me."
"Yes. I was there."
"You have never raised a hand against me before."
"Then congratulations. You experienced something new today."
A few Riverbone females covered their mouths.
Nerin’s head lowered, but his shoulders shook once.
Brea saw him.
"You think this is funny?"
Nerin immediately became still.
Before she could move toward him, Swanly’s gaze cut across the clearing.
"Touch him again and I will test my other hand on you."
Brea stopped so quickly that her spotted tail nearly swung around her legs.
Maela finally recovered.
The tawny lioness shoved through the survivors, her braided hair swinging behind her.
"You shameless little beast!"
Garran strode beside her, his gray-gold mane rising around his furious face.
Arion lifted one hand.
"Mother, wait."
Maela did not wait.
"You struck the prince of Sunmane in front of his people!"
Swanly looked behind her.
Then to her left.
Then to her right.
Maela’s nostrils flared.
"What are you doing?"
"Looking for Sunmane."
The older lioness froze.
Swanly pointed toward the exhausted survivors, the torn hides, the wounded bodies and the broken staff carrying the remains of their banner.
"I see a group of people standing outside Riverbone begging for somewhere to sleep. Where exactly is this mighty tribe whose prince I should fear?"
Maela’s face darkened.
Garran slammed the end of his staff into the ground.
"You will show respect."
Swanly raised her palm.
Both older lions stopped.
"What?" she asked. "Do you want one too?"
Maela’s mouth fell open.
Garran’s claws scraped against his staff.
Behind Swanly, Kael’s low growl rolled through the clearing.
He had not moved from his place, but his eyes were fixed on Arion.
The lion prince touched his cheek.
His disbelief slowly became anger.
"You cannot insult my parents."
"I can do many things. You have already watched me do six of them."
Selka’s swollen face twisted from the ground.
"You filthy..."
Swanly pointed at her without looking.
"Seven is available."
Selka’s mouth snapped shut.
Swanly turned toward Kael.
The black panther stood rigid, his claws still extended and his muscles pulled tight beneath his scarred skin.
He looked ready to tear through every lion in front of him.
Yet beneath the fury, she saw something else.
Fear.
Not fear of them.
Fear of her looking at Arion for too long.
Swanly walked back to him.
Kael’s ears lifted.
She slipped her hand into his, pulled him forward and stood beside him in front of everyone.
"This male is my mate."
Her voice carried across the clearing.
Kael’s fingers closed around hers.
"My one and only mate."
Soren’s silver eyes narrowed.
His tail moved once behind him, but the three cubs were still safely wrapped inside its coils.
Swanly looked up at Kael.
"And I love him."
Kael stopped breathing.
His golden eyes widened.
The murderous tension in his face cracked so suddenly that he almost looked lost.
"You..."
"Yes, you."
His throat moved.
In front of more than one hundred strangers, Riverbone’s people and the male she had supposedly once loved, Kael’s black ears turned slightly red.
The smallest cub saw it from Soren’s tail.
"Papa red!"
The second cub leaned forward.
"Papa sick?"
The eldest shook his head with the knowledge of a wise old beast.
"Papa happy."
Kael closed his eyes for one painful moment.
Swanly nearly laughed, but her gaze returned to Sunmane before the anger could leave her.
She pointed toward her three sons.
"Those are our cubs."
The cubs immediately puffed out their tiny chests.
The smallest raised one fist.
"Mama cub!"
"Yes, you are Mama’s cub."
"Papa cub too!"
Kael’s mouth twitched.
Swanly faced the survivors.
"Anyone who comes for my mate, my children or me will go through me first."
Her blue-gray eyes landed on Selka.
"Especially you."
Selka’s claws dug into the dirt.
Swanly leaned slightly toward her.
"Keep staring at me like that and I might pluck out those eyes you are using to glare. I do not know who the fuck you are, but get off my back."
Selka trembled.
Then her swollen lips curled.
"So this is what you are doing?"
Swanly’s eyebrows rose.
Selka struggled to her feet.
Her legs shook, but she lifted her chin as if she had not just been slapped into the ground.
"You are pretending you do not remember us because you are ashamed."
Swanly stared at her.
Selka wiped blood from the corner of her mouth.
"You remember everything. You remember following Arion around like a pathetic little animal. You remember crying outside his shelter. You remember begging Maela to let you join their family."
Maela’s expression regained a little of its pride.
Selka saw it and continued.
"You remember how you hated that panther. You remember calling his cubs a curse."
Kael’s grip loosened.
Only slightly.
Swanly caught it.
She tightened her fingers around his immediately.
Selka smiled.
"You can stand there and lie, but everyone here saw what you were. A desperate orphan who opened her legs for one male and cried for another."
Soren’s scales rose along his neck.
Kael took one step.
Swanly pulled him back.
Selka laughed breathlessly.
"You say you love him now because you know Arion no longer wants you."
Arion’s head turned toward her.
"Selka."
"What?"
His jaw tightened.
"Stop speaking for me."
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