登入Sorry this is coming late, I've been tied up. We just hit 200 views this morning so that kinda gave me motivation to write. Thank y'all so much, this means a lot 😝✨ ~Author Leela
Elder Maris did not wait to be invited in.She stepped over the threshold with the ease of someone who had entered many rooms uninvited and had long since stopped apologising for it. She was small, smaller than she had seemed in the council chamber, her grey braid tight against her head, her cloak dark and plain. Nothing about her announced what she was.Pilar had not moved from her spot near the door. She stood with her bag still over her shoulder and her chin at the particular angle that meant she had not decided anything yet.Elder Maris glanced at her."I will need a moment alone with your friend," she stated.Pilar looked at me, then at Elder Maris. "With respect—""Pilar," I said quietly.Her jaw tightened. "I will be outside," she said, and her tone made it clear that outside meant close and listening and ready.She slipped past the older woman and pulled the door behind her, not fully closed.Elder Maris studied me."Sit," she said.I sat.Elder Maris remained standing. She lo
"He kissed you.""Yes.""In the corridor.""Yes.""In the palace." Pilar sat back in her chair and looked at me like I had just told her the sky was green. "Kaelan...kissed you.""Pilar," I whined."I am processing.""You have been processing for five minutes.""It is a lot to process." She pressed both hands flat on the table and looked at them. Then at me. "And you kissed him back.""The bond—""I know about the bond, Ophelia. I am asking about you. Did you kiss him back?"My gaze fell to the table. "Yes."She exhaled slowly, the breath of someone absorbing something significant and making room for it. "And then you stopped.""Yes.""Because of Lucian."I did not answer.The kitchen was warm. My mother had gone to the market, leaving us alone with so much to catch up on.Pilar waited."I stopped because I thought of his face," I said."Whose face?""Lucian's."Pilar nodded, not understanding but still not pushing."He laughed at me," I said. "In the library. He leaned in like he was
The King's private study was not a room that invited comfort.It was large enough to feel important and sparse enough to feel strict, a desk of dark mahogany at its centre, shelves of maps and bound documents lining the walls, a single fireplace that gave heat without warmth. Aldric Valerius had designed it that way. 'A room for thoughts', he liked to call it.Lucian stood near the window with a glass of wine he had not touched, looking out at the dark palace grounds below. His father sat behind the desk, a document open before him."The quests were inevitable," Lucian said. "Darkholme would not have accepted any other outcome. At least this way she has a chance to prove herself before the Council makes a permanent decision.""And you believe she can do it?""I believe she deserves the opportunity to try.""Answer the question."Lucian turned from the window. His father's eyes were on him."I do not know if she can do it," Lucian admitted. "I do not know her well enough to say.""You a
"You should eat something before you go.""I am not hungry."Gertha folded a grey dress and placed it in the satchel. "You said that yesterday.""I am saying it again today."She reached for another dress. "The carriage will be ready within the hour.""I know.""You will need your strength.""I know that too, Gertha, thank you."She spared me a glance, then went back to her folding."The white dress," I said. "Who sent it?""You asked already.""And you did not answer.""I will not answer now either."I watched her hands, quick, the reflex of someone who was used to this. She had done this for others before me. She would do it for others after."You speak in circles," I said.She tied the satchel and set it by the door. "The carriage is waiting."I picked up the satchel. She did not follow me out.I had hoped the twins would come to see me out. Some foolish part of me had imagined them standing outside my room, waiting for me.They did not.Of course they did not. The King had said the
The words hung in the air like a blade waiting to fall."A series of trials," Darkholme said. His voice was flat. "The number is not fixed. You will continue until the Council is satisfied ...Or until you break."My mouth opened, then closed, "That is no trial. That is a punishment."Darkholme's eyes did not blink. "Call it what you wish. It is the only path forward.""The twins-""The twins are leaders of this pack," King Aldric's voice cut through the room. His face was neutral still. "They have a duty above all else. Above you. Above the bond. Above whatever weakness pulls them toward an Omega with no name and no bloodline."My throat tightened. "I am not asking them to abandon their duty, my Lord.""You are their mate." The King's eyes held mine. "That is already an abandonment of sense."A cold silence followed. Elder Zakira leaned forward, her voice softer than the king's but no less sharp. "The trials are not designed to kill you, they are designed to break you. There is a diff
The doors closed behind me. Seven pairs of eyes stared intensely.Behind the Council table, elevated on a dais, sat two thrones.King Aldric watched with a face so blank it might as well have been carved from stone. Beside him, Queen Selene's expression was unreadable, but her eyes were sharp and alive.The other five Council members flanked them on either side.No one spoke for a long moment as I moved to stand in the centre of the room. My hands smoothed the sides of my dress, and an adrenaline rush crept through spine.Chief Judge Darkholme broke the eerie silence first."Ophelia Tyme. You stand before the Council of Silver Fang.""So I have been told."Elder Zakira's lips twitched. The Queen's eyes flickered with something that might have been amusement."State your lineage," Darkholme said."My mother is Phaeytthe of Ashen Ridge. My father is dead. I never knew his name.""Convenient," someone muttered from the end of the table.I turned to look at him. Elder Obelix. Round-faced,







