My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 70

Sera

"Stop fidgeting with the laces," Mina said. She slapped my hand away from my waist.

"They are too tight," I told her. I shifted my weight in the freezing stone corridor, grimacing as the dark leather pulled against my bruised thigh. "I can barely take a full breath."

"You are not supposed to take a full breath," Mina replied. She grabbed the collar of my heavy dark wool tunic and yanked it straight. "You are supposed to look like you own the room. And you do. You look like a warlord's mate. Now keep your chin up and stop touching your hair."

I dropped my hands to my sides. I looked at the massive black iron doors of the Great Hall looming ten feet in front of us. The muffled roar of hundreds of voices bled through the thick oak.

"Are they going to stare?" I asked.

"Every single one of them," Mina said. She gave me a bright, completely unapologetic grin. "Let them."

She stepped back. She looked at the two massive Ironmaw guards flanking the entrance. One of them, a man with a jagged scar cutting through his thick beard, gave me a look,

He didn't sneer. He reached out, grabbed the heavy iron ring, and hauled the door open for me.

The noise hit me instantly.

The Great Hall sounded like an army camp on the eve of a war. Hundreds of wolves sat shoulder-to-shoulder at long wooden tables. Massive stone fire pits roared down the center aisle. The air was thick, smelling of roasted venison, spilled dark ale, and woodsmoke.

I stepped over the threshold.

The immediate area around the doors went quiet. The silence spread rapidly down the long tables. Men and women stopped talking in mid-sentence. They lowered their iron cups. They turned their heads to look at me.

I felt the weight of their eyes dragging over my skin. I knew exactly what they saw, but nobody laughed. A few of the older warriors sitting at the closest tables simply tapped their heavy knuckles twice against the wood as I walked past them.

I didn't bow my head. I locked my knees to hide the lingering ache in my leg, and walked directly down the center aisle toward the raised dais at the back of the room.

The High Table was carved from a single, massive oak tree.

Fenris sat directly in the center. He wore a dark grey tunic and a heavy black wolf pelt. He held an iron cup in his right hand. I watched his grey eyes track my movements as I climbed the three stone steps to the dais. He looked at the tight fit of the leather pants. He looked at the thick wool covering my chest. He didn't say a word, but the thick muscle in his jaw flexed hard under his skin.

The heavy wooden chair to his immediate right was empty.

I pulled it back and sat down right next to him. The heat radiating from his massive body immediately washed over my left side.

I looked down the table. My mother and Lord Torin sat to my left. Further down sat Chief Vane, an older, heavily scarred elder tearing into a piece of meat. Kael sat at the very end. He glared at me, his face tight with absolute hatred. Taya was not at the table.

My mother leaned forward. Her face was completely pale. She stared at my clothes.

"Seraphina," my mother hissed under her breath. She kept her voice low so the surrounding guards wouldn't hear. "What are you wearing? You look like a common mercenary. Where are your silks?"

"They are in the fire," I replied. I reached forward and grabbed a thick slice of roasted meat from the wooden platter in front of me. I was starving.

My mother opened her mouth, her face flushing with anger, but Torin placed a firm hand on her forearm. He squeezed her wrist, silencing her.

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