Chapter Sixx
C
A silence fell like snowfall–quiet, suffocating, and cold.
The moment my words echoed through the Great Hall, time fractured. Somewhere, a wine goblet slipped from a noble’s hand, shattering against the stone floor. The sound rang out like a tolling bell, signaling the shift of power no one had prepared for.”
I stayed kneeling, Ayla pressed tightly to my chest, her breath now steadier, soothed by the Healer’s magic–but my own heartbeat thundered with the weight of what I’d just declared.
Selene Stormfang.
Daughter of Garrick. Luna once discarded, now returned.
“She’s lying,” Damien’s voice sliced through the tension, sharp and desperate. “She’s a deranged rogue. I told you–she was presumed dead years ago. This is a trick. A… a sympathy play!“}
He was unraveling.
I looked up and met his eyes–truly looked. The veneer of calm he wore like fine armor was cracking. His pupils had shrunk to slits, his lips taut with something far more volatile than anger.
Fear.
And under that… satisfaction?}
Ah. There it was. The game behind the panic. He was calculating the angles, already twisting the moment to serve him.
Damien took a step forward, voice pitched softer, smoother. “Look at her, my Lady. She’s filthy. Her mind has clearly broken. She wanders back into this court babbling about lost titles and old names. Does that sound like a Luna–or a feral who survived too long without a collar?”
A few nobles chuckled nervously, hoping to score favor by echoing his dismissal. But more watched in Remembering.”
uneasy
silence. Measuring.
Because i wasn’t just anyone.
I was Stormfang.}
And that name carried weight that even betrayal couldn’t bury.
“She doesn’t even bear the royal mark anymore,” Damien added quickly. “The Moonstone pendant–the token passed from Luna to Luna- isn’t that proof enough?“>
I blinked slowly.
Of course it was gone. He’d torn it from me the day he left me to die.
Inside, my wolf bared her teeth.>
But outside, I stayed stili. Calm. Let him talk.§
Let him lie.
The silence broke again–this time with murmurs like wind in a graveyard. Nobles turned to each other, their whispers venom–laced.} “Stormfang? I thought she died…“}
“No one ever found a body.”
“Didn’t they say she’d run off with rogues?“}
“… Or was she exiled?”
Each voice struck like a whip. Not because they doubted me–but because they remembered. Because they were wondering how close they had stood to treason when they supported Damien’s rise.
Elara sat frozen, her fingers tightening around the stem of her wineglass. Her golden eyes flickered from me to the crowd, calculating, searching for a leash to rein this back in. But this time, no clever insult came. Her mouth opened -and closed.
For once, her venom failed her.”
My gaze swept past her and landed on Shen Qiuzhi–Lady of the Eastern Border. She sat serene, spine straight, smile carved delicately into her face like it had been painted there.
“I always wondered,” Shen said lightly, “what truly happened to our dear Selene.“}]
Her voice was sugar–dipped steel.”
“To think, all this time… and no one thought to ask why she vanished. Or how convenient it was that Lyra stepped into her place only weeks after.
Elara flinched. Just barely. But I saw it.
So did everyone else.
A few nobles shifted in their seats. Others looked to Lady Vivienne, but the former Alpha Regent remained unmoved–watching, absorbing, judging
I kept my head lowered.
But inside, I seethed.
They’d staged my death like a play–burned my bed, scattered ashes, wept crocodile tears. And all the while, Damien had smiled beside
3/2 20.03
11:24 AM DO
I kept my head lowered.
But inside, I seethed.
4
同
They’d staged my death like a play–burned my bed, scattered ashes, wept crocodile tears. And all the while, Damien had smiled beside
Elara, gripping her hand in front of the mourning pack. As if I were nothing but a necessary casualty.N
I should’ve howled that day. I should’ve made them feel my rage then.N
But instead, I’d run.&
To protect Ayla. To protect the bloodline they had tried to erase.N
“Her father is dead,” Damien snapped, his voice now brittle. “There is no Alpha Garrick to verify her identity. The decree she holds could be forged.”
My fingers tightened around the scroll.
Garrick’s blood didn’t just run in my veins–it howled through them.N
I didn’t need his voice when I carried his legacy in my spine.N
Zane, the Royal Healer, stood from his kneel. “Her aura doesn’t lie,” he said softly. “Neither does the child’s. That is Stormfang blood.”
Someone gasped. Another stood to better see me. The gossip surged like wildfire.N
“She’s telling the truth.”
“She has the right to a challenge.“N
“She’ll demand blood.“N
“I bet she comes for the bond…“N
“Damien’s reign is cracked.“N
Their words blurred at the edges of my mind, but I forced myself to remain steady. No trembling. No tears.
They already saw me as a ghost. I would make them believe I’d crawled out of the grave for vengeance.M
I heard Elara mutter something to her attendant, her voice taut with urgency. But then–another voice, low and commanding, sliced through it all.S
“Raise your head.“N
The crowd hushed instantly.
Even Elara stopped breathing.N
i looked toward the source and saw her rising slowly from her seat.N
Lady Vivienne.}]
Dressed in robes the color of dried blood, her eyes sharp as obsidian, she held no rank in this court anymore–stripped of title after her mate fel! in battle–but her presence still summoned fear.N
She descended one step, chin lifted. Her voice, though quiet, carried across the hall like a spell.M
“I said she repeated, “raise your head, child.”N
11:25
