Chapter 132: The Traitor’s Blood

Author’s POV~

"Are you out of your fucking minds?" Selena screamed again, her voice cracking. "Do you even hear yourselves right now?"

"We are not lying," Logan said grimly.

Selena felt the room start to spin. "That is completely impossible. Why in the name of the Moon Goddess would the Four Thrones protect a wolfless, useless rogue? What the hell is actually going on?"

"We don’t know the full story yet," Lucas admitted, his jaw tight.

"But it is the absolute truth. A few days ago, Adeline was dragged in front of the disciplinary committee for attacking Logan. You know what the punishment for that crime is under royal law. A wolfless rogue laying hands on a true alpha? It should have been a public execution, or at the very least, permanent banishment to the dead lands."

"And all four of the princes walked into that room themselves." Logan’s voice dropped, bitter and low.

"They stood in front of the entire committee and declared that the charges were false. They said Adeline was innocent. And just like that, the case was closed. She walked out free."

Selena sank into the chair. Her hands gripped the armrests.

"This cannot be real," she muttered. "It cannot be."

"It gets worse, Mother," Lucas said. His voice was hard now. It started on the very first day," Lucas went on. "Chloe was trying to be nice to her. She walked up to that girl with a smile and tried to make peace. And what did Adeline do? She made things hard for her on purpose. She looked at Chloe like she was dirt. Like Chloe was the one who didn’t belong there."

"She planned all of it from the beginning," Logan growled. "I’m sure of it now."

"And that is not even all," Lucas said, and his voice dropped. "Today, the dowager luna of the second throne came to the academy. In front of the whole academy, the dowager luna slapped Chloe."

The sound Selena made was half gasp, half choke.

"The dowager luna? Slapped my daughter?"

"Right in front of every student. And then she took Adeline with her. She didn’t send a servant. She didn’t send a guard. She came herself."

"The dowager luna of the Second Throne came personally to the academy," Logan added slowly. "Just to escort Adeline home."

"Wait." Selena’s eyes went wide, and her whole body went stiff. "You mean the matriarch? The matriarch of the second throne? No, no, no. That is not possible."

"It is possible, Mother," Logan muttered. He looked sick saying it. "The dowager luna even changed the whole menu of the academy. Everything. Just because she thought, Adeline is not eating her food, because her favs are not on the menu. Just for her, the dowager Luna changed the whole menu."

"The menu?" Selena breathed, like she could not believe the word. "For a wolfless servant girl?"

She stood frozen, her mind spinning. The matriarch. A rejected girl. A girl they threw out like trash.

The heavy doors at the end of the hall opened.

Alpha Daren walked in. He was a broad, powerful man with a rough, scarred face and eyes that never looked soft. He had heard the raised voices from the corridor and had come to see what was going on.

"What is this noise?" he asked. "Why is everyone shouting?"

He looked at his wife’s pale face, then at his sons. His brow furrowed.

"Selena. What happened?"

"Chloe is missing," Selena said hoarsely.

Daren froze. "What?"

"And that’s not all." Selena swallowed. "Adeline is alive, Daren. And the Four Thrones are protecting her. Even the dowager luna of the second throne herself."

"The matriarch of the Second Throne?"

"Yes, Father," Lucas said.

Daren and Selena looked at each other. It was a long look, one that carried years of secrets between them, and it made Lucas and Logan uneasy.

Lucas stepped forward. "Father, I don’t understand any of this. Why would the dowager luna protect a nobody? It doesn’t make sense. I think Adeline is trying to turn the High Concord against us. She is poisoning them. She is turning them against our pack, and I think she is doing this to get back at me and Logan for rejecting her."

Selena didn’t say anything right away. Her eyes were still locked with her husband’s. Slowly, the fear on her face began to harden into something else, something cold and sharp.

The panic in her eyes faded. Her lips curled, slow and cold, into a dark smirk.

"Let her enjoy it," Selena said quietly. "Let her enjoy every second of it while it is still there."

Lucas frowned. "Mother?"

"Let that little wolfless bitch walk around with four princes behind her," Selena went on, her voice low and sweet like poison. "Let her stand in front of the whole academy like she is someone important. Let the matriarch hold her hand if she wants to. Because very soon, she won’t even have the privilege of living. Not when they come to know who she really is."

"What?" Lucas said. His voice came out rough. "What do you mean, who she really is?"

"Mother, what the fuck are you talking about?" Logan stepped closer, his eyes wide.

"She is an orphan. A nobody. You said it yourself. She lived in our servant quarters. What is there to know?"

"Who is she really?" Lucas pressed, his chest rising and falling fast. "Tell us. Right now."

They both stood in front of her, waiting. Their golden eyes were fixed on her face, hungry for an answer.

Selena did not answer them. She turned her head and looked at her husband.

Daren was already looking back at her. His jaw was tight. His face had gone dark and heavy, like a man who had just heard an old grave opening. A silent understanding passed between them.

They both knew. They had always known.

Selena took a slow breath. Then she turned back to her sons.

"She is the daughter of traitors," she said.

"The worst kind," Selena added, her voice hard. "The very worst kind there is."

"Traitors?" Lucas said.

"Traitors?" Logan said, at the same time.

They looked at each other, then back at their mother. Their voices had come out together.

Selena nodded. Her face was dead serious now. The smirk was gone completely.

"Yes. Traitors. And every single pack in this world knows how they died."

"It was terrible. It was a death so terrible that parents still use it to scare their pups at night. They betrayed the lycans, Lucas. They betrayed the throne itself. And of course, they ended up dead. There was never any other way for it to end."

Logan’s voice dropped to almost a whisper. "You know about her real parents?"

"Everyone knows," Selena said sharply. "Everyone with a brain in their head. It is not a secret, Logan. It is a warning." She stepped forward.

"That death was a message to every wolf, in every pack, in every corner of the land. If you ever betray the Lycans, you will end exactly like them. You will not get mercy. You will not get a grave. You will get what they got."

"Mother..." Lucas swallowed hard. His throat moved. "Who were they?"

Selena lifted her chin.

"Scarlett," she said slowly, like the name itself was a curse. "And Fredrick."

"They are the best example of what happens to traitors. And that girl, that quiet, pathetic little thing you two rejected like trash, is their blood."