Chapter 9

The quiet didn't last.

A few days later, the council of elders summoned me.

The moment I stepped into the great hall, I saw Seraphina kneeling below the dais,

crying to the elders about all the terrible things I had supposedly done.

"I know I come from a lowly background," she sobbed.

"Ever since I returned to the pack, I've been careful with every step.

I never dared overstep. But I don't know how I offended Ava.

She targets me at every turn... If this is what it's come to, then I'd rather die to prove I'm innocent!"

With that, she lurched to her feet and tried to throw herself at one of the stone pillars,

only to be stopped by the people beside her.

I let out a cold laugh and walked in.

"So my dear sister hates me this much?" I said.

"That's heartbreaking. Over the years, what have you ever asked for that I didn't give you?

Take the griffin, for example. I knew you wanted it, so I let you have it.

So tell me—what do you want from me this time?"

In a few lines, I made two things clear: I wasn't the one in the wrong, and Seraphina wasn't here for justice.

She was here for what I had.

Her face stiffened instantly.

"I may have been human once," she snapped, "but I won't accept that kind of slander!"

"That's enough. Silence."

A powerful voice cut through the hall from the elders' seats above.

My father. The current Alpha of the pack.

Only then did Seraphina shut her mouth, though not willingly.

I looked at my father—still strong, still alive, still standing where he belonged—

and felt my eyes sting.

The first time around, he had died under Icarus's claws—killed for trying to get justice for me.

Kieran felt the shift in my mood and quietly squeezed my hand.

"Seraphina," my father said, "you claim Ava ordered her spirit beast to injure Icarus.

Do you have proof?"

That was the question Seraphina had been waiting for.

She immediately pulled Icarus forward.

The second I got a clear look at his face, even I was startled.

He had always relied on my resources to maintain his strength.

Now that he had lost access to them—and after Kieran had injured him—

his face was deathly pale, and his aura was unstable.

He shot me a vicious glare, then reluctantly lifted his shirt to reveal the wounds on his body.

His chest and abdomen were covered in overlapping bruises and burns.

Some of the wounds had already begun to rot, oozing pus and giving off a foul smell.

Seraphina burst into tears on cue.

"That day, I only wanted to borrow some moon essence from Ava," she cried.

"But she humiliated me.

She said someone of my status had no right to use something so precious, and then she had her spirit beast attack Icarus!

I know I'm not worthy, but I still have my dignity!"

She painted herself as a proud, wounded victim so convincingly

that the younger pack members started speaking up for her one after another.

They demanded that the Alpha punish me severely,

saying anything less would never convince the rest of the pack.

I knew better.

They weren't standing up for Seraphina.

They were eyeing the top-grade resources I'd lose if I were punished.

The greed in their eyes was practically spilling over.

And just as the pressure in the hall reached its peak, Kieran stepped forward from beside me.

"He's lying."