บททั้งหมดของ The Lycan king's Unwanted Luna : บทที่ 81 - บทที่ 90

Seraphina's POV"You don't have to see him," Kael said. "I don't trust him.""Why?""He's been withholding information since the moment we arrived.""Then let him give some of it to me instead of you." I met his eyes. "Everyone keeps talking about me when I'm not in the room."Kael didn't argue further, though I could see he wanted to. "I'll be nearby.""I know."The receiving room where the fifth Alpha waited sat just off the council hall, plain and unremarkable, nothing hidden or theatrical about it. He didn't bow. He studied my face for several seconds, as though comparing it to a memory."Why did you ask to see me?" I said."Because you're about to be asked a question no one has asked correctly in twenty-four years.""What question?""Not whether you are an Ashbourne." He paused. "Whether the Ashbournes were ever supposed to disappear."He told me the official version first, the one I'd already gathered in pieces. The bloodline had been declared too dangerous to remain near the th

Kael's POVThe five houses were already seated when I entered, the chamber colder than usual despite the fire burning along the far wall. The hostile Alpha's eyes stayed fixed on the empty chairs. The second Alpha had documents arranged with careful precision in front of him. The third had brought two witnesses, both silent, both watching the door. The fifth Alpha said nothing at all.Two chairs sat prepared for her. One beside me. One across the room, alone.The doors opened. The room went quiet.Seraphina stopped beside the empty chairs, looking between them a moment before she spoke."Which one is mine?""That seat is reserved for the King's consort," the hostile Alpha said, nodding toward the chair beside mine. "I'd assumed the other was more fitting, until we determine what you are.""Then I suppose you've already decided what I am," she said, and sat down beside me anyway.The hostile Alpha's jaw tightened. He wrote something beneath the heading bearing her name, then covered th

Seraphina's POV"Who was responsible for securing the council's records?" I asked.The hostile Alpha didn't answer the question directly. "You have turned a historical inquiry into an attack on this council.""I asked a simple question.""Until this investigation is complete, you will remain in the capital under council supervision.""You've already decided I'm guilty," I said. "At least let me see the evidence you're using to judge me."No one offered any. The fifth Alpha rose. "She has every right to challenge an order with no stated grounds."The houses split into murmured argument that settled nothing by the time it ended.Before I left, the hostile Alpha spoke once more, low enough that only those nearest heard it. "If you continue questioning the old decree, this council may reconsider whether King Kael is fit to protect this kingdom."I walked out of that chamber with my freedom restricted, and something colder settling in my chest than the restriction alone accounted for. I ha

Seraphina's POVThe fifth Alpha's reply came with the record itself, not merely permission to see it. His house had kept its own copies, independent of whatever the council had sealed.The second Alpha's house had held access to the eastern passage during the weeks surrounding my mother's disappearance. That access was revoked three days later.The dates were too close to ignore. Someone had closed the passage shortly after my mother escaped.I couldn't wait in my rooms for the council to decide what I was permitted to know. I sent a request through the fifth Alpha asking for a meeting with the second Alpha directly.He may refuse you, the fifth Alpha wrote back. Men like him rarely enjoy being asked questions they've spent twenty-four years making sure no one would think to ask.I wrote back a single line. Then let him refuse me to my face.Kael's POVThe hostile Alpha raised the missing aide before the full council, turning toward the other houses before he'd even finished the thoug

Seraphina's POVI refused to meet the second Alpha's demand quietly."I won't surrender the blade to you privately," I told him, when he summoned me again the following morning. "If it's to be examined, it will be under the fifth Alpha's supervision, with a written record of everyone who handles it.""You have no right to set conditions on evidence connected to an agreement you claim concerns your own bloodline.""I have every right. It's my blood the agreement concerns, and my mother's life that was spent protecting whatever proof it left behind. I won't hand that to the first man who asks for it simply because he sits on a council."His jaw tightened. "Then this becomes a matter for the full assembly.""Let it."I left before he could answer, understanding, walking away, that I had just turned a private threat into a public one. Whether that worked in my favor or against it, I would find out soon enough.Kael's POVThe inventory never arrived. When I summoned the council representat