Chapter 5: The Evidence Against My Father

Anne's POV

“By order of the Alpha King, open up.”

The command came again.

I folded my mother's message and slipped it beneath the lining of my wedding dress, which lay crumpled beside the wardrobe. Then I closed the jewellery box and pushed it beneath a pillow.

If someone was searching my room, I couldn't let them discover what my mother had hidden.

I opened the door.

A guard stood outside with another warrior behind him. Both wore the black uniform of the Blackthorn pack, silver insignias fastened to their chests.

“The Alpha King requests your presence in his study,” the first guard said.

“Requests?”

His expression remained blank. “You are to come with us immediately.”

“How generous of him.”

Neither man responded.

I glanced down the corridor, measuring the distance to the staircase. After my earlier escape attempt, the guards would be expecting me to run. I had no intention of giving them another opportunity to drag me back.

I walked between them with my chin raised.

But as we approached the western wing, I noticed something strange.

The servants who had been whispering when I first arrived now lowered their eyes whenever they saw me. Two warriors standing outside a meeting room stopped talking as we passed.

Then I heard one of them mutter, “If the King's evidence is genuine, the girl is dangerous.”

The other replied, “And if it isn't?”

The first warrior shot him a warning look.

They fell silent.

I kept walking, but their words followed me.

If the evidence is genuine.

For the first time since arriving at Blackthorn, I wondered whether everyone here believed Caelan's version of the story.

Or whether some of them were afraid to question it.

The guards stopped before a pair of dark wooden doors.

One knocked.

“Enter,” Caelan called.

I stepped inside.

His study was larger than the sitting room in my father's mansion. Tall bookshelves covered two walls, and a broad desk stood before windows overlooking the forest. A map of the surrounding territories hung behind him, marked with colored pins and thin lines tracing the borders between rival packs.

Caelan had changed his clothes. He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, revealing a faint scar along his forearm.

The wound I had given him was hidden beneath fresh bandages.

Seeing it brought me a brief, ugly satisfaction.

I hoped it hurt.

“Leave us,” he ordered.

The guards withdrew and shut the doors.

I remained near the entrance.

“If this is another attempt to convince me that you did the right thing, save your breath.”

“Sit down, Anne.”

“I would rather stand.”

“Then stand.”

He returned his attention to the documents spread across his desk.

I hated that he could ignore me so easily. My entire world had collapsed, yet he behaved as though this were an ordinary meeting.

“What do you want?” I demanded.

He lifted a sheet of paper.

“To show you why your father was considered a threat.”

I almost laughed.

“You killed him. What more could you possibly want to prove?”

“That I didn't attack Silvermoon without a reason.”

“A reason isn't the same as an excuse.”

For the first time, his eyes met mine.

“No. It isn't.”

His answer caught me off guard.

I had expected another argument, another cold declaration that he had done what was necessary. Instead, he placed the paper on the desk and turned it toward me.

“Read it.”

I approached cautiously.

The document contained a list of patrol schedules, guard rotations, and security arrangements for Blackthorn's eastern border. Several locations had been marked with red ink.

At the bottom was a signature.

My father's.

I recognized it immediately.

The same signature appeared on every official document he had ever shown me. The capital letters, the sharp final stroke, even the small mark he made when his pen ran dry.

For several seconds, I couldn't speak.

“What is this?” I finally asked.

“Information recovered from a courier intercepted near the eastern border. The courier was carrying instructions to deliver it to two rival Alphas.”

“And you believe my father gave him these documents?”

“The courier named him.”

“Under what circumstances?”

Caelan's expression hardened. “He was captured trying to cross our territory.”

“That doesn't answer my question.”

“He was questioned.”

“By whom?”

“My intelligence officers.”

“Were you there?”

“No.”

“Then how do you know what he said?”

A muscle moved in Caelan's jaw.

“The courier's statement was recorded.”

“Show me.”

He studied me for a moment before opening a drawer and removing a second document.

“This is the transcript.”

I took it from him.

The courier's statement was short. He claimed that Anne's father had promised the rival Alphas access to Blackthorn's eastern border in exchange for military support.

According to the transcript, the agreement had been made six weeks earlier.

Six weeks.

I read the statement again.

My father had been busy preparing for my wedding during that period. He had spent days meeting with the pack council, settling old disputes, and organizing security for the ceremony.

But that wasn't what troubled me.

It was the date written at the top of the page.

The interrogation had supposedly taken place on the fourteenth day of the month.

I looked at Caelan.

“Where is the original recording?”

“Why?”

“Because I want to hear it.”

“The transcript contains the relevant information.”

“That isn't what I asked.”

His gaze sharpened.

“You're in no position to make demands.”

“And you're in no position to expect me to accept a document you claim proves my father's guilt.”

Silence settled between us.

For a moment, I thought he would dismiss me.

Instead, he leaned back in his chair.

“What have you noticed?”

I looked down at the transcript.

“My father never called himself Alpha Vale in official correspondence.”

Caelan's expression didn't change.

“He was the Alpha of Silvermoon.”

“I know who my father was.” I tapped the document. “But this statement claims he introduced himself as Alpha Vale when making the agreement. He never used that title. Not in letters, not in council records, and not when dealing with other Alphas.”

“That doesn't prove the document is false.”

“No, but it proves someone may have written it without knowing him.”

I examined the signature on the first document again.

Something else bothered me.

My father had always signed his name with a small crescent beneath the final stroke. It was an old Silvermoon tradition passed down through our family.

The signature on Caelan's document lacked it.

I pointed to the page.

“Look here.”

He came around the desk.

“My father's signature is missing a mark.”

Caelan studied the writing.

“Signatures can vary.”

“Not his. He taught me how to recognize it when I was a child. He said the mark was part of our family's seal.”

I looked up at him.

“If this document is genuine, why is his signature incomplete?”

Caelan took the paper from my hand.

For the first time since I had met him, uncertainty crossed his face.

It disappeared almost immediately, but I had seen it.

“You could be mistaken,” he said.

“I could.”

I refused to look away.

“But if I'm right, someone forged evidence against my father.”

He returned to his desk and compared the signature with another document. His eyes moved between the two pages.

I watched him carefully.

He wasn't pretending to examine them. He was looking for something.

And he didn't like what he saw.

“Who else had access to this evidence?” I asked.

“Members of my intelligence division. The council received copies of the report.”

“How many people?”

“Enough.”

“Names, Caelan.”

His gaze snapped toward me.

“You're asking questions about a matter that could destabilize three territories.”

“Then perhaps you should have investigated it before murdering my family.”

The words landed between us.

His fingers tightened around the document.

I expected him to retaliate, to remind me that I was standing in his territory and breathing only because he allowed it.

Instead, he placed the papers down.

“The attack was authorized after my council confirmed the intelligence. Your father was believed to be preparing an alliance against Blackthorn. If those rival Alphas had gained access to our eastern border, they could have attacked our settlements before we had time to respond.”

“And you decided to destroy Silvermoon before anyone could question the evidence.”

“I decided to prevent a war.”

“By starting one.”

He didn't answer.

For a moment, I saw the weight of his decision in the stillness of his face.

Then he straightened.

“I won't pretend that I can undo what happened. But if someone manipulated my intelligence division, I will find them.”

“And what happens when you do?”

“That's not your concern.”

“It became my concern when your warriors killed my parents.”

I stepped closer to his desk.

“You want to know what my father was hiding? Fine. I'll help you find it. But I won't do it for you, and I won't trust you.”

“Why would I allow you to investigate my territory?”

“Because your own people might be lying to you.”

His eyes narrowed.

I had struck a nerve.

Before he could answer, a knock sounded at the door.

“Enter.”

A tall man in a dark suit stepped inside. He had close-cropped hair, a silver insignia at his collar, and the watchful expression of someone accustomed to keeping secrets.

I recognized him as one of the men who had stood beside Caelan during the council meeting.

“Your Majesty,” he said. “The council is waiting.”

“Tell them I'll join them shortly.”

The man nodded, then glanced at the documents on the desk.

His eyes lingered on my father's signature.

Only for a second.

But his fingers tightened around the folder he carried.

“Is there a problem?” Caelan asked.

“No, Your Majesty.”

The man lowered his head.

“Everything is proceeding as expected.”

Something about his answer made my skin prickle.

Everything was proceeding as expected.

Not everything is under control.

Not the council is ready.

As expected.

The man turned to leave.

“What is your name?” I asked.

He stopped.

His eyes moved toward Caelan before returning to me.

“Darius Voss. I oversee the King's intelligence division.”

The words sent a chill through me.

The intelligence division.

The people who had questioned the courier. The people who had prepared the report. The people whose evidence had convinced Caelan that my father was his enemy.

Darius bowed slightly.

“Your Majesty.”

He left, closing the door behind him.

I watched Caelan.

“Was he involved in the investigation?”

“He oversees the division responsible for it.”

“And you trust him?”

Caelan's expression turned cold.

“Be careful, Anne.”

“That's not an answer.”

“It's the only one you're getting.”

I stepped away from the desk.

“Then I suppose I'll have to find the answers myself.”

“Don't mistake my willingness to hear you out for permission to interfere in Blackthorn affairs.”

“And don't mistake my presence here for loyalty.”

I turned toward the door.

“Anne.”

I stopped but didn't look back.

“If you find anything concerning your father's activities, you bring it to me. You don't approach my council. You don't confront my officers. And you don't leave this mansion.”

I glanced over my shoulder.

“You're afraid I'll discover something you missed.”

His eyes darkened.

“I'm afraid someone will discover what you're looking for before you do.”

Before I could ask what he meant, he opened the door and called for the guards.

They escorted me back to the east wing.

I kept my expression calm until I was alone in my room. Then I retrieved my mother's pendant and unfolded the hidden message.

If Caelan takes you, find the traitor within.

I thought of Darius Voss.

The intelligence chief who had prepared the evidence against my father.

The man whose expression had changed when he saw the signature.

Perhaps he was innocent.

Perhaps I was desperate to blame someone other than Caelan.

But I had learned something important that day.

Caelan's evidence was not as certain as he wanted everyone to believe.

And if my father's signature had been altered, someone had gone to considerable trouble to make him look guilty.

I tucked the note back into the pendant and closed my fingers around it.

Then a sound came from beneath my door.

Something slid across the floor.

I waited until the footsteps outside faded before retrieving it.

It was a folded piece of paper.

No name.

No signature.

Only one sentence written in black ink.

Stop investigating your father's death, or you'll join him.

I read it twice.

Then I walked to the window and looked down at the courtyard.

Darius Voss was standing beside a black vehicle, speaking to one of the guards.

As if he felt my gaze, he looked up.

Our eyes met.

He smiled.

And in that moment, I knew my investigation had already begun to attract the wrong kind of attention.

Someone inside Blackthorn knew what I was searching for.