All Chapters of The Alpha King's Hidden Luna: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Ruth's POVThomas Blake sat in the deep cells and said nothing.For two days, I watched through the iron grate as interrogators cycled through his chamber. They offered deals. They made threats. They brought Mara in to confront him, hoping her presence would crack something loose. Thomas smiled at all of them with the same patient amusement, like a man watching children attempt a puzzle far beyond their abilities.He didn't deny anything. He didn't confirm anything. He simply waited.His silence was worse than any confession.Because silence meant he was certain. Certain that the truth would come out on its own. Certain that I would ask the questions he had planted in my head. Certain that when I did, the answers would destroy me more thoroughly than any torture could.I lasted forty-seven hours.On the morning of the third day, I found my father in the council chamber. He was reviewing supply reports with Marcus—mundane work, administrative tedium, the kind of task that happened in t

Ruth's POVMy first morning as regent began with a challenge.I had been awake since before dawn, nursing Luna in the gray light, listening to the manor wake around me. Servants moving through hallways. Guards changing shifts. The distant clatter of the kitchens preparing for a day that would test everything I had ever learned about leadership.I dressed carefully. Not in my father's colors, but in deep silver and black—my own statement, my own identity. Eleanor helped me pin my hair back from my face, her fingers steady even when mine trembled."You don't have to do this today." Her voice was soft. "You could take a few days. Settle into the role.""A few days is a few days of weakness." I adjusted the collar of my tunic. "They're watching. All of them. Waiting to see if I'll crack.""Will you?"I looked at Luna, sleeping peacefully in her cradle."No."The great hall was already full when I entered.I had expected a crowd. What I found was an army. Every minor lord, every council re

Ruth's POVI did not sign.James waited in the great hall with his contract and his patience and his perfectly reasonable offer. The court waited with their calculations and their fears and their desperate hope that I would choose the safe path. The Council waited with their ultimatum and their power and their absolute certainty that I would bend rather than break.I let them all wait.For three days, I stayed in my chambers with Luna. Watched her silver eyes shift and shimmer in the firelight. Held her against my chest and listened to her heartbeat—steady, strong, impossibly calm for a child whose gaze held something the world hadn't seen in four centuries.Elena brought me everything she could find about Seraphina.The records were fragments. Pieces of a story that someone had worked very hard to destroy. But the fragments painted a picture that made my blood run cold: a woman whose eyes had marked her for something the old packs feared. A gift, some called it. A curse, others whisp

Ruth's POVThree keys. Three suspects. No time.I sat in the interrogation chamber with the morning light cutting harsh angles across the table, watching Dr. Chen's supply clerk twist her hands in her lap. She was young—barely twenty—with nervous eyes and a trembling voice that made every answer sound like a confession."You have access to the medical wing lockbox." I kept my voice level. "When did you last open it?""Two weeks ago." She swallowed. "We needed surgical thread. The regular supply had run out.""Did you notice anything unusual? Anything missing or disturbed?""No. I mean—I don't think so." Her hands twisted tighter. "I wasn't looking for anything wrong. I just grabbed what we needed and locked it again.""And the wax-and-die kit?""I've never touched it." Her voice cracked. "I didn't even know it was in there until Dr. Chen told me this morning."I studied her face. The fear was real. The nervousness was real. But fear and nervousness weren't guilt."You can go."She fle

Ruth's POVThe chamber wanted blood.I could feel it in the air—the hungry anticipation of ninety Alphas watching me stand alone on the petitioner's platform. Verrick's motion had done what it was designed to do: transform a guardianship hearing into an inquisition of my entire bloodline.But I had something they didn't expect."High Councilor." My voice cut through the chaos. "Before the Council proceeds with its expanded inquiry, I invoke precedent."Verrick's eyebrows rose. The chamber quieted."Precedent?""The case of Regent Elara Thornwood." I adjusted Luna in my arms, keeping my voice steady. "Four centuries ago. An unmated regent who faced this same challenge to her authority."I watched the reaction ripple through the assembly. Most of the Alphas looked confused—this was ancient history, buried in archives that few bothered to study. But some faces showed recognition. Concern. The flicker of plans suddenly complicated."Regent Thornwood's situation was different." Verrick's r