The Daughter of a Broken Throne

The council chamber was filled with the thick smoke and age, as if every decision rendered within its walls had been burned into the very stones themselves. Torches smoldered upon the walls, casting agitated shadows across the table upon which the elders sat. Their robes reflected the firelight and glittered silver-threaded, but for Serena Vale there were only wolves with teeth concealed behind civilized smiles.

She sat beside her father upon the raised dais, back stiff, hands pressed flat upon the smooth wood. Her father's hand was inches from hers. It shook—barely—and yet enough that she could see. The old great Alpha of Mooncrest now resembled a mountain slowly wearing down in quiet silence. His wolf still seethed in his eyes, but his body betrayed him.

The voices of the elders were abrupt and subdued, dancing around the truth but not speaking it.

Her brother was dead.

The words clung like fog, unsaid but oppressive. He had been slain in a rebel attack six months prior, leaving no heir behind. And now the void was swallowing Mooncrest whole.

"No male heir," Elder Hadrien stated, his beard quivering as he stooped forward. "The line is broken. In the pack's best interest, we should anticipate succession."

Her father's voice was strained when he replied, although Serena sensed the tension behind it. "Succession to whom?"

"To a leader wolf," Hadrien evaded easily. His eyes swept down the table and lingered on one name they'd all whispered in reverence during rehearsals. "Damien Blackthorn of Nightfang. His blood is clean. His power unargued. With him, Mooncrest will last."

At that, Serena's throat constricted. She'd heard the name a hundred times, each said as a prayer or a warning. Damien Blackthorn-son of the most violent pack in the Dominion. The elders had been coveting him for months, and now that her father lay incapacitated and her brother was dead, they had their excuse.

Her breast seared. She hadn't known she'd spoken until her own voice broke the silence. "Would you give my pack to a stranger?"

All of their heads turned.

The quiet pressed down on her ribs, but Serena wouldn't give up. She stood up straight, her storm-gray eyes fixed on the elder. "I am my father's daughter. His blood flows through me. If my brother is not worthy to take the throne, then I will.".

Laughter boomed in the room.

Hadrien's head shook with chuckles softly muttering under his breath. "You are funny, child. A temper, maybe, for a war. But thrones are not won by temper."

"You have a womb, not war," another elder sneered. "You will be standing at a throne's side, not on one."

"Breeding stock," a third said bluntly. "Your job is to bear the heir, not be an heir."

Serena's nails gouged crescents out of the wood as long as she hoped they would bleed. Her cheeks burned, but she disciplined herself to meet their eyes. "I've trained longer than all of the boys you will name. I've learned to rule, to fight, diplomacy. I've spilled blood on practice fields while the rest of your so-called sons primped in their silks. I can rule."

The elders simply sneered.

"Then demonstrate it," Hadrien finally said, his tone heavy with sarcasm. "If you think you're up to their level with Alphas, then go to the Alpha Dominion Academy. If you make it a week around them, then we'll maybe mock less at your small hope."

They laughed, the noises scuttling up her flesh like claws.

Fists trembled at her sides as rage and shame struggled inside of her.

"Enough of that," growled her father, his voice thick with the wolf still lingering in him. The laughter ceased immediately. Even in his weakened condition, nobody dared cross Alpha Vale when his wolf was awakened.

The elders stood up one by one, rigidly jerking themselves into bows before they departed. Their footsteps disappeared, but the hurt of their words lingered like raw wounds.

When the final door closed, Serena faced her father. He hadn't glanced at her since she'd spoken, his eyes on the table. His shoulders slumped in weariness.

"You should not have disobeyed them," he said softly.

"I couldn't be quiet." Her voice cracked, then softened. "Not when they'll sell Mooncrest like livestock."

"I know." He rested back in his chair, his eyes closing in a movement of weariness. For once, he was not like an Alpha, but a man who had struggled against the current for too long. "But they will never accept you as a leader, Serena. Not until the world changes. And the world will not change soon enough for you."

Her throat was searing, but she set her jaw. "Then I will change it."

His eyes went soft with sadness and pride all mixed up. "You are fierce. Too fierce. Like your mother. But even the most fierce she-wolf cannot bear a crown without a guardian who will fight for her."

"I don't want to be anybody's Luna," she panted. "I don't want a throne because I married a man. I want it because I deserve it."

He shook his head, a half smile spreading across his lips despite the pain in his eyes. "And that's why they're afraid of you."

Serena swallowed, moving closer to him. "Then scare them.".

Before he could answer, a knock at the door of the rooms. A servant approached, bowing low, and produced a sealed envelope. The wax throbbed in the light of the torches, displaying the unmistakable sigil of a wolf's head.

The Alpha Dominion Academy.

Her father reached out to take it, but his hands shook so that he was unable to break the seal. Serena stretched out to claim it, heart pounding, and ripped it open.

Her eyes read the words, her racing heart with each line.

Congratulations. You have been invited to the Class of Alphas of the Alpha Dominion Academy.

Her breath caught.

The elders believed she would never find the strength. But already, she had.

And she was just starting.

Serena owns the letter. The elders teased her, but now she owns the evidence that cannot be refuted by them although no one knows at what price she obtained it.