Claimed in court
1904 Words
CASPIAN
She rose to her feet slowly after the chains left her feet, wary, like I might strike her. I didn’t. Instead, I reached out and took her wrist, guiding her toward the door of the dungeon.
“Where are we going?” she whispered.
“To the court.”
She froze. “What? No! They’ll kill me.”
“Not if they know you’re mine. They need to know either way” I have to show in front of everyone that I choose her. Then, they will cease their own judgment on a stranger who infected their king with a tainted blood.
The great hall was a riot of tension. I hadn’t been seen since my wound wouldn't heal, and the rumors had festered like an open wound. The moment I stepped through the towering doors, the room fell silent. Councilors, nobles, pack betas, all turned toward me with wide eyes and barely disguised alarm.
Whispers erupted. “He’s alive” It is an insult for them to think a little thing like this will bring me down.
“That girl,” Someone said,
Namiko kept her eyes on the stone floor, her steps small and calculated behind me. I didn’t miss the way she flinched when someone said that under their breath.
I walked to the high stage and stood, every movement a defiance of death. Then I spoke.
“I was poisoned. Not by what you would expect. It is something out of the ordinary. It is something that should not have happened in a million years, so it caught me by surprise” I don't need to give them an explanation, but if it will help her, then I will.
Gasps. Sharp murmurs. “I held up a hand. “But I live and I have a chance at removing this taint from my veins, And that is because of her.”
Namiko tensed.
“How can that be because of her, my king, when she tried to hurt you in the first place? She is a traitor to the king, not a savior”
“She is not a traitor. She is a hybrid. Half-werewolf, half-lycan. She will use her gift to purge the poison from my blood.”
Chaos erupted.
“She’s a threat!”
“A hybrid? That’s impossible. They haven't been seen in a hundred years”
I let it boil for a moment, then roared, “SILENCE!” The court quieted instantly.
“I am not seeking permission,” I said coldly. “I am making a decree. Namiko is under my protection. She will not be harmed, questioned, or removed from these walls. She is mine.”
One of the elder councilmen, Rhogir, stepped forward, pale and shaking with fury. “You cannot”
“I can,” I cut in. “And I have. She will heal me. And she will give me heirs.”
More gasps. Namiko visibly faltered beside me, but I didn’t release her wrist.
“You would bind yourself to a bastard breed? She will cause too much chaos, my king!” Rhogir spat.
I bared my teeth. “I would rather bind myself to one honest hybrid than to any of the vipers sitting in this room.”
Rhogir’s lip curled. “You doom the bloodline.”
“No,” I said. “I save it.” They must have forgotten the curse. Werewolves are doomed if we don't start producing heirs.
Another voice rang out, high and feminine Lady Vaela, one of the old bloodlines who had tried to offer her daughter to me a dozen times. “What proof do we have she didn’t poison you to gain power or to infiltrate the pack?”
“I tasted her blood,” I said. “I saw the truth in it.” I didn't do that yet, but they don't need to know that.
But that silenced them. Tasting blood was the sacred rite. An ancient one. A bond sealed by truth.
Vaela turned pale. “Then she is,”
“Yes,” I said. “She is the future of this kingdom. She will help break the curse of the moon goddess”
I felt her stiffen beside me. I didn’t blame her. She didn’t expect to be claimed, at least not like this. But there was no other way. If I let them rip her apart, I would lose the one thing that might keep me alive. And maybe, maybe something more than that.
The court didn’t clap. They didn’t cheer. But they didn’t stop me either.
I turned to her. Her eyes were wide, uncertain. “You’re not a prisoner anymore, Namiko.”
“I know,” she whispered. But I wasn’t sure she believed it yet.
And I wasn’t sure I did either.
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Namiko’s POV
I couldn’t breathe until the court doors slammed shut behind us.
Even then, the weight didn’t leave my chest. It shifted, deeper, heavier. Like something tethered itself to my ribs the moment Caspian said those words.
She is mine.
He hadn’t looked at me when he said it. He hadn’t needed to.
I followed him down the corridor, my legs stiff and trembling, heart pounding so loud I thought he might hear it. He didn’t speak. He didn’t even glance back.
The silence stretched like a wire between us, thin, sharp, dangerous.
He led me to a room I hadn’t seen before, vast, shadow-drenched, with black stone walls and a massive hearth that glowed with low firelight. His chambers. I could feel it. The scent of him clung to the air, wild cedar, cold earth, and something darker beneath everything.
He closed the door with a click.
I didn’t turn to face him. I couldn’t. My pulse was a storm.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said quietly like we are friends and I'm telling him a correction.
“Done what?”
“Claimed me.”
The fire crackled. The silence pressed harder.
His voice, when it came, was low. “You would rather I let them drag you into the courtyard and gut you?”
“No,” I whispered. “But you didn’t have to. . . “say it like that.”
“Say it like what?”
“Like I belong to you.”
“You do,” he said simply.
That did it, I spun on him, eyes blazing. “I’m not yours, Alpha King. I offered to help. I offered to save you. That doesn’t mean. . . ”
“You offered to bear my children.”
I froze. Of course, I said that too.
His gaze was steady, dark as night. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know what that meant. I made it clear. You are mine now, Namiko. In the eyes of the court. In the eyes of the law.”
I shook my head. “It was survival.”
“It still is.”
He stepped forward. Slowly. Deliberately. My back hit the wall before I even realized I was retreating.
“Tell me,” he murmured, “Why you’re shaking?.”
“I’m not.”
He tilted his head, one dark brow lifting. “Liar.”
“I’m not scared of you.”
“No,” he said, closing the distance between us. His hand came up, brushing my jaw with maddening softness. “You’re not.”
I hated that my body betrayed me. That my breath hitched when his fingers trailed down my neck. My knees weakened when he leaned in, close enough for his lips to brush the shell of my ear.
“I saw it in your eyes,” he whispered. “You didn’t flinch. Even when I said you were mine.”
“Because I had to survive.”
“No,” he said again, more quietly this time. “Because you wanted it.”
I shoved him. Not hard. Just enough to break the heat between us. “Don’t twist this.”
He caught my wrists easily. Not rough, but firm and possessive.
“I’m not twisting anything. I’m telling you what’s already there.”
His hands slid down my arms, slow, deliberate. “You saved my life. You offered your body. You said you could survive me.”
I could barely think.
“And now,” he said, voice husky, “you will prove it.”
My heart stuttered. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” he said, “you’re not leaving this room tonight.”
My breath caught.
“I told the court you were mine. You told me you could heal me. So do it. Stay. Sleep in my bed. Breathe my air. Let them see you walking out of my chambers tomorrow, neck marked, scent claimed.”
I swallowed hard. “Is that what this is about? Territory?”
“No,” he said, his voice dropping to a gravel-dark whisper. “This is about you.”
Then he leaned in, lips brushing mine, not a kiss, but a threat of one. His hand came to my waist, gripping me through the thin fabric of my dress. A dress I have been wearing for days now.
“You smell like a lie,” he whispered. “But you taste like truth.”
My lips parted, heat flooding my skin. “You said you’d kill me.”
“I still might,” he said, eyes on my mouth. “But not tonight.”
“Why not?”
“Because I haven’t had you yet.”
I should have slapped him.
But I didn’t. Because the hunger in his eyes wasn’t just lust, it was something deeper. Older. A hunger for possession, yes, but also for understanding. For answers. And maybe, just maybe. . , for me.
And gods help me, I wanted to give it to him, despite my own scars. Someone who doesn't know me or my scars.
I wanted to be known. Not just claimed.
He stepped back, giving me room to breathe. “Undress.”
My breath hitched. “What?”
“You’ll sleep here in my bed. You’re mine now. They need to smell it on you.”
I held his gaze, waiting for fear, cruelty and arrogance. Something sharp, it didn't come.
But I only found heat.
Slowly, I pulled my sleeves down. The dress slipped over my shoulders, pooling at my feet. I stood in nothing but skin and scars, my chest rising with each shallow breath.
His eyes burned as they roamed me. Not with pity. Not with mockery, just hunger. Raw and ruinous.
He said nothing, just turned, and walked to the bed, tugging his shirt over his head, muscles rippling with each movement. The firelight danced over his skin, golden and wicked.
He got under the covers and looked at me. Waiting.
I crossed the room on shaking legs, slipping into the bed without a word.
The sheets were warm. He was warmer.
He didn’t touch me.
He didn’t need to.
The space between our bodies was thick with something alive. My skin prickled. My thighs clenched because I want him but I also hate him.
I had no idea which would destroy me first.
- Writer
