Semua Bab Rejected By The Alpha, Claimed By His Uncle: Bab 101 - Bab 110

Liora’s pov“It is time.”Councilman Vulsh did not look up immediately when I spoke. He stood near the council chamber window, hands clasped behind his back, staring out at the courtyard where warriors drilled beneath the pale morning sun.“It has been time for weeks,” he replied evenly. “You were the one insisting on patience because you were in love.”I walked further into the chamber, closing the heavy wooden door behind me with deliberate softness. “Patience has served its purpose,” I said. “Now we move.”He turned then, dark eyes assessing me carefully. “You are certain?”“I am always certain.”His jaw shifted faintly. “This is not rumor planting in corridors, Liora. Once we question a duel between Alphas, there is no retreat.”I smiled faintly. “There was no retreat the moment Darius Varyn set foot back in this palace and Fael decided to look at his ex woman with love in his stupid eyes.”He studied me for a long moment before gesturing toward the long oak table at the center o

Faels PovThe council chamber had never felt this narrow.By the time I entered again, the air was already thick with division. Elders sat in their carved stone seats, robes layered in ancestral colors, rings heavy on their fingers as if the weight of metal could anchor the chaos rising beneath the surface. Torches flickered along the circular walls and cast long shadows that made every face look sharper, older, more suspicious.They were whispering before I even reached my chair.Lines had formed.Not visible on the stone floor, but across posture, tone, breathing.On my left sat those who had always feared the North.On my right sat those who feared instability more than pride.At the far end of the chamber, poised and composed, Liora sat with her hands folded neatly in her lap. Her back was straight. Her chin lifted. Her expression was neither hostile nor soft.She was watching while Seraphine sat near the center platform, unmoving, her face carved into something distant and unr

Fael POVThe chamber had emptied but the echo of it remained inside my skull.Voices. Accusations. The scrape of chairs. I stood alone for a long moment after the elders dismissed us, staring at the seat where the head elder had presided as if the wood itself might explain how control had slipped so cleanly from my hands.Mylor paced restlessly beneath my skin. ‘This is wrong.’“I know,” I muttered under my breath.‘You let it happen.’“I did not know.”‘You should have.’The doors opened behind me and I turned instinctively, expecting Liora again.It was Seraphine.She stood at the threshold, with silver woven through her dark hair like a blade drawn halfway from its sheath. Her face was calm, but I knew her well enough to see the tension beneath it.“Seraphine,” I said, stepping toward her. “Wait.”“I am not here to wait,” she replied.Her voice was not loud. It did not need to be.“I did not know they would present a witness,” I said. “I did not know the council would call a tr

Seraphine POVThe council chamber felt colder than usual this morning, though the braziers along the walls burned high and steady.I had learned that cold did not always come from air because sometimes it actually came from eyes, from whispers.. From the space people left between themselves and you as though you carried something contagious.Kade walked at my side as we entered, his presence quiet but immovable.“They convened quite quick and early,” he murmured.“They always do when they believe the accused will not arrive in time,” I replied.His jaw tightened. “You do not have to speak,” he said softly.“I know.”“And if it becomes hostile..”“It already is.”The chamber doors opened fully, and the low yet charged hum of conversation rolled over us like thunder.Elders sat in their carved semicircle, their robes heavy with tradition and expectation while Grimfang loyalists were clustered to the right. Fael stood near the center dais.Liora sat three seats behind him with her hands

Fael POVThe air inside the council chamber had suddenly grown thick enough to taste.Every voice had quieted after the elders announced their intention to move toward a preliminary ruling. Wolves leaned forward in their seats. Some whispered among themselves while others watched the empty space where Darius should have stood.I remained where I was near the center of the chamber, feeling as though the ground beneath my feet had begun to fracture.Seraphine stood several paces away from me.Her posture held the kind of calm that I had once admired when she stood beside me years ago after council disputes and training yard arguments that had never mattered as much as this moment did.Only now she stood for another man.For my rival.For the man who had killed my father.The thought stirred something bitter and sour deep inside my chest, but that bitterness did not last long.Because when she stepped forward again, I saw something else.Strength.Dangerous, steady strength.Her voice