Chapter 003

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Sylphiette

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The sun beat down mercilessly, turning the cracked stone beneath my feet into something hotter than hellfire. The courtyard was a sea of sneering faces and expectant glares.

Kian clung to my neck, his small arms tight around me as if he understood the danger without knowing the full weight of it. His little body trembled with every breath.

I kept my chin high, though my insides were twisted with dread.

"Let the trial begin," Alpha Axel's voice boomed from the far end of the courtyard.

His throne looked like a mockery of justice itself, draped in black fur, his smug face stretched in something between a smirk and a threat.

I guessed since he couldn’t have me, he wanted to humiliate me as much as he felt I’d done to him. Was that why he was indulging? To humiliate me? To have me crawl at his feet and beg for mercy?

If he thought this was enough to break me, he was wrong. I’d rather die than beg at his feet. But would I want the same feat for my baby boy? He was only but a child—undeserving of the cruelty he was forced to face.

I didn’t know how else to protect him and my helplessness smacked me in the face just as I turned to face Lysandra.

She sat beside him, legs crossed, her expression filled with contempt and satisfaction. Her gaze slid over me like I was dirt beneath her feet.

“This she-wolf is accused of seduction,” Another voice announced.

I shifted my gaze towards the direction until I caught sight of the councilman. An elderly man in his late fifties. He was dressed in a white tunic garment with navy blue embroidery and a linen sash draped over his shoulder and right arm. His ring—an indication of his membership to the council—caught the light as he motioned.

“A treasonous act of deception meant to fracture the sacred bond of the Alpha and Luna. Her sins are grave.”

The crowd erupted in murmurs—some amused, some incensed. None of them for me.

“Does the accused have anything to say?” The councilman asked, his gaze glinting with contempt.

I stepped forward despite the chains biting into my wrists and ankles. “I didn’t seduce anyone.” My voice cracked but didn’t break. “I was almost assaulted in my room. He came to me.” I stared at the rogue king with all the fury I had. “You know the truth.”

Axel stood. “You call your Alpha a liar?”

“I call you what you are,” I said through clenched teeth. “A predator. And, you’re not my Alpha.”

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

His eyes and nostrils flared. “Enough.” He gritted and I could see he was barely controlling his anger. He nudged his head and swift movements caught my eyes.

Two guards advanced before I could react. One of them grabbed my arm and yanked me backward while the other tore Kian from my grip.

“No—no, please, no!” I screamed, twisting violently, but the chains and the guard held me back. Kian cried out, flailing, calling for me.

“Mama! Mama!”

“Leave him alone!” I shouted, desperation clawing up my throat like fire. “He’s just a child!”

Lysandra laughed—a cruel, brittle sound. “A child of filth. He deserves to be punished too.”

“Don’t do this!” I begged, dropping to my knees, and stretching out my arms towards my child as if that could bring him back into my arms. “Please, I’ll do anything. He’s innocent. He’s just a baby!”

But the rogue king raised his hand and made a lazy circular gesture.

“Strip her,” he said, his void of emotion and commanding.

Hands tore at my clothes before I could fully process the command. Rough fingers ripped the thin fabric from my body, leaving me exposed to the eyes of wolves who saw me as nothing but a spectacle.

Then I was shoved to the ground and water was flung onto my face next—icy and suffocating. I gasped, coughing, blinking rapidly as the cold burned down my skin.

Then the whip cracked through the air.

The first lash sent white-hot agony across my back. I screamed, biting down hard to stop from sobbing.

Kian’s shrieks were sharper than the whip. He was reaching for me, but they held him back. My heart broke more because I couldn’t reach my child, couldn’t save him the dreadful sight of watching his mother being whipped in front of him like a wild animal, couldn’t protect him.

“No! Let me go! Mama!” he cried.

Another strike came and I buckled over, hunching onto my hands and knees. My nails dig into the stone and my teeth but down on my lower lips, hard enough, it drew blood. The taste clinged to my tongue.

Then another followed after, heavy as the others, merciless weeping. I couldn’t hold back the pain. A scream rang out in my ears and soon I registered it as mine. I hissed and blinked back tears.

The flesh on my back peeled open, the pain excruciating, exploding like a thousand daggers and spikes was clawing my skin open.

Blood dripped onto the stones.

“Stop!” I rasped. “Stop it, please! I’ll do anything—”

“Bring the boy forward,” The rogue king commanded and my world tilted in its axis.

I could barely comprehend the words but I knew what he intended to do... If he ever laid hands on Kian—

“No…” I whispered, numb and shaking from the pain eroding my body. “No—don’t. Not him. Please not him. Don’t hurt my baby.”

Kian was dragged forward. And with his little body, he tried to escape their clutches but it was fruitless. He screamed for me. And my heart shredded. They held him like he was a piece of filth, forcing him down on his knees.

One of the guards pulled back the whip and something shuddering overtook my being.

I lunged forward with everything I had, the chains cutting deeper into my wrists, the raw flesh on my back splitting further.

Pain. I tried not to focus on the pain as it impaled my movements.

“Please!” I shrieked. “He’s only three years old! Don’t hurt him—he doesn’t even know what’s happening!”

I dropped to the floor, crawling now, sobbing and shaking, too weak to stand. “I’ll take it all. Give it all to me. Just… let him go!”

Lysandra crackled at the background, clearly, deeply enjoying my misery. Basking in my pain and despair.

The crowd hooted for the show to go on. For my son to be punished. Whipped for a crime he knew nothing about. For the spectacle of it.

But then the gates opened and someone ran through it, his voice ringing out in the air with panic.

“We’re—We’re under attack! Alpha—”

His voice drowned under the sudden silence and confusion. Even the air seemed to pause. And his body collapsed to the ground with a thud, blood seeped out, soaking the earth.

The guard behind Kian hovered with confusion, he looked up, searching before his gaze fell back to Kian again and his arm moved—

Just then, howlings and growls echoed through the courtyard like thunder, rumbling every stone and silencing every breath.

Every head snapped toward the gate again.

A tall figure emerged, casting a long shadow under the rising sun.

Kian stopped screaming, sobbing silently.

My heart stilled.

The figure came closer, boots thudding against the stone. The scent hit me first—misty forest earth. My heart squeezed with a ting of familiarity.

No. It couldn’t be.

My vision blurred as tears welled. I blinked, trying to focus, but the blood loss and pain made everything swim.

And then it was chaos—wolves shifted mid-air, roars echoing. The crowd scattered.

A wolf leaped towards the Kian and my heart almost cleaved in half until he caught the guard behind him. Blood spilled and the sound of bones crushing mixed in with his agonizing screams.

My body trembled, breath caught in my throat at the scene.

I opened my mouth to speak but my body was failing me. The pain, the exhaustion, the weight of it all finally won.

My knees gave out and the world toppled.

I heard Kian’s voice echo distantly, “Mama!” but I was rapidly loosing consciousness.

A pair of arms—strong and warm—caught me before I hit the ground.

Maybe I imagined it all. In my moment of devastation, I’d dreamed up the man from my past. Because how was it possible? How could he be here? And… why?

But the last thing I heard before the darkness took me was his voice; rough, yet soft and almost broken. A voice I never thought I’d ever hear again.

“I’ve got you now, Sylphie.”