Chapter 179: The Alpha Has Finally Said It

Maria, who had been sitting on information the way a volcano sits on lava, saw her opening and took it.

"Nova’s spasms have been very bad. She had them at the Moonfire, when my brother had her. And she had them again the other night while she was holding my hand. That was when Alpha Thunderfang helped with her shoulder."

"Yes, she did. Astra treated her for it," Alpha Thunderfang confirmed, like Nova wasn’t there.

Freya leaned back in her chair, wine in hand, studying Nova. "I am curious what your shift will manifest as when it comes. Starborne Alpha blood with a Moonseal means yours will have the gift."

"If the Goddess sees fit to give me a wolf, I would be honored to introduce her to you," Nova replied and meant every word.

Every person turned their attention to the High Luna. The room was holding its breath to see which version of the High Luna was going to respond.

The High Luna let out a dark laugh.

"Well played, Goddess. Well played."

She stood.

SMASH.

The High Luna hurled her wine glass into the fire.

Nobody moved.

Then Dante reached for the wine bottle, refilled his glass to the rim, and settled back with the posture of a man who had front-row seats to something magnificent and was not leaving.

The High Luna was staring up at the ceiling again.

"THE TABLE IS LYING TO ME." She whirled around at Nova. "Starting with NANCY." She pointed at Tavian. "You." She pointed at Maria. "You." She pointed at Freya. "Obviously you." She pointed at Dante. "You as well." She pointed at Maverick. "You by suspicion." She turned to Alpha Thunderfang and her finger trembled. "And you. The architect. My grandson. The boy I raised. The boy I fed from my own table. The boy who just lied to his grandmother."

"What are you talking about?" Alpha Thunderfang said, voice unamused.

"YOU lied to me this entire dinner. You know exactly where the princess is and YOU were going to try to hide it from me. Like I WOULDN’T already know."

Alpha Thunderfang didn’t skip a beat. "Which Princess, Gran?"

The question hit her like a bucket of cold water thrown by the person holding the hose.

Dante cut another piece of meat, determined to enjoy his dinner and the show.

"Do not play games with me, Landon," the High Luna snapped. "The Starborne princess. Obviously her. The one who is missing from this table."

"We have a Starborne Princess at this table," he replied.

"The REAL one, Landon. The one with breeding and a bloodline and a proper name that I can remember because it has the correct number of syllables."

A muscle in Tavian’s face twitched. Not from emotion. From restraint. The restraint of a man who had just heard someone cite syllable count as evidence of superiority and the count was identical for both names. Nova had to look away before she laughed.

"SHE WAS ARRESTED. YOU ARRESTED HER!" She turned on Nova. "What I want to know is why Nancy is sitting here eating dinner."

"Celeste was arrested this morning for breaking and entering, and for attempted murder, Gran. The real kind of attempted murder."

Nova took a deep sip of her wine and immediately started coughing at the next thing that came out of the High Luna’s mouth.

"Her own SISTER, Landon. Her own flesh and blood. If Nancy is truly a Starborne, then she is sitting at this table allowing her own sister to be imprisoned for a crime that could very well have been HER doing. Has anyone considered that? Has anyone considered that the evil twin is the one holding the wine glass and not the one behind bars?"

Dante stopped chewing for the first time since the outburst began. The evil twin accusation had achieved what the screaming, the glass-throwing, and the finger-pointing had not.

"The evil twin," Alpha Thunderfang repeated flatly.

"Yes. The evil twin. It happens, Landon. It happens in families. One sister is refined and the other is feral and the feral one frames the refined one and everyone falls for it because the feral one has nice table manners and a gift-shop bracelet."

"It’s possible. Nova was born on the Celestial Blue Moon. On Halloween," Freya offered. "On the evil twin theory, the only issue is that she’s been in silver since she was six. The other one hasn’t."

Tavian’s head dropped. His shoulders were shaking. Maria elbowed him. The elbowing made it worse.

"Celeste climbed the outside of the keep with a hairpin and two syringes full of banned neurotoxin. We have it on footage, Gran."

"Nancy told her to. The chief of police knows the truth, Landon."

Dante resumed chewing. The evil twin theory had peaked. The rest was logistics.

"Uh huh. I’m sure he does. He also informed me you holo-pinged him thirty-two times today, Gran. Unfortunately, these aren’t your charges to wave. They are mine because I was attacked. And I am not waving them."

"She said NANCY hit her with a LAMP, LANDON! Does that sound like someone with a hurt shoulder to you?"

Maria turned to Nova. "Did you hit her with a lamp?"

"Yes. I hit her with a pillow too."

The table went silent.

The High Luna pointed with both fingers at Nova. "SEE! SHE ADMITS IT!"

"I was there when it happened, Gran. It was self defense." Alpha Thunderfang dragged a hand down his face. "I was also there when she had her shoulder relocated. It has also been holo-scanned by Astra. It also has been hurting her non-stop and I can feel it. So if you would quit insulting NANCY that would be fantastic." He closed his eyes for a full second. "Nova."

Nova was a bit confused by that statement but didn’t have time to dwell because her confusion was replaced by a new kind of confusion stemming from the High Luna, who started clapping like a crazy lady.

"Finally. You admit it."