Chapter 205: The Silverpole

The Silver Pole of IronRidge is an ancient pillar of solid silver permanently fixed to the centre of the marketplace, and once someone was tied to it...they are permanently considered a public shame and disgrace to the pack.

And there was no coming back from it.

No one was permitted to help or even speak to them. People were allowed to gather around the condemned to spit, curse, and mock them. The Pack gave the people the right to do anything to the condemned... except kill them.

They wouldn’t eventually die on their own as weeks and months went by.

And today...The Luna of IronRidge herself was the condemned.

She was still wearing one of her expensive, silk dresses, but this time it was torn and was barely hanging onto her body. Her arms were extended above her head and were tied to the pole with the strongest silver chains there were in the Pack.

Her legs faced the same chained fate.

Her luscious, beautiful dark hair seemed to have lost all of its shine overnight and was badly dishevelled all over her face, covering most of it.

It was already noon in the Pack, and the marketplace was as busy as it always is. People walked past her, and their whispers and gossip caught her ear.

That’s her."

"The Luna?"

"Former Luna."

Someone laughed bitterly.

"I heard she took thirty crates of grain."

"Thirty?"

"Thirty grain. Twenty dried meat." A woman’s voice cut through the crowd, "From the eastern villages."

"My sister lives there," Another woman said. "They were rationing food."

"And she was hiding it for herself."

"Wasn’t she also caught sending letters to Clawfang?"

"Clawfang?!" Another yelled angrily, "That’s unthinkable. How could she do such a thing?"

"It’s no wonder the Alpha stripped her of her title and condemned her,"

Out of nowhere, a stone hit her head, and Evangeline twitched. A second later, blood was running down her face.

It didn’t take too long before more stones followed, along with rotten tomatoes and even balls of dirt. After all, there has never been any rule that says the condemned isn’t supposed to be stoned half to death.

Soon enough, half of the market people had gathered in front of the pole, and she was getting pounded with it all over her body as people yelled curses at her.

"Traitor!"

"Food thief!"

"Enemy’s whore!"

"She wore the Luna’s crown while selling us to Clawfang!"

Another wolf yelled,

"Your people were hungry while you hid their food!"

"How could you?"

"My children were eating half portions!"

Traitor!"

"May the Moon Goddess remember what you did!"

Evangeline wished she could cover her ears so she wouldn’t have to listen to them anymore. In fact, she wanted to claw at her own ears and tear them off just to spare herself from the agony of listening to their voices.

And the shame...

The shame was extreme. Her whole body had been trembling like a leaf. She could feel every glare on her skin.

And perhaps the cruellest part was that some of the wolves weren’t even shouting.

They simply watched her.

Disgusted and disappointed.

Like she had become something beneath hatred.

Before long, tears began spilling down from her eyes. She couldn’t control it. Couldn’t help it.

Because she believed she didn’t deserve this.

Someone had orchestrated this. Someone out there had framed her. Had turned everything against her.

Someone had ruined her life.

The people stoning her once bowed to her, once looked at her with fear and respect. And she had once taken care of these people. She’d given IronRidge everything...

Everything!!

She had served them all right.

And yet...even when she’d yelled all night and all morning that she was innocent, not a single person had pitied her.

Another stone hit her face, and she groaned in pain.

It didn’t stop coming.

Not even when her entire body was bloody and covered in dirt. Not when she was tasting blood and weak with pain. Not when her tears mixed with blood and rolled down her face to the ground.

They didn’t care.

They didn’t remember the good things she did for them. All they saw now...was a traitor!

Hours passed before it finally stopped.

And that was because people were finally leaving the marketplace for the day.

The sun finally set completely, and the place was becoming silent. Vendors were now packing up and closing their stalls, and the Moon was starting to appear in the sky.

Evangeline’s body sagged.

Pain was the only thing she could feel.

On her skin, her bones and her heart.

"I sure am glad that I was never tied to that thing,"

Slowly, Evangeline opened her blood-filled eyelashes to see who had just spoken. Her ears were still buzzing from the aftermath of the hours of pain, so she couldn’t quite make out who owned the voice...even though it sounded familiar.

She stared and noticed it was a woman.

A woman dressed in a long, black cloak that covered most of her face.

Only her lips were exposed, and they looked dry and pale. So, so pale. Almost as if the person was...a ghost.

A shiver rolled down Evangeline’s spine, "Who...are you?" She sounded nothing like herself. She sounded broken and weak.

"You must be feeling worse than devastated right now," The woman’s lips moved again, "After serving all these people for years... doing everything just right, just so the Alpha could finally look at you, and love you. Could finally let go of his first love and choose you,"

Evangeline’s heart was pounding now.

Then, the pale lips curved a little, revealing sharp canine teeth, "But after everything, this is where you end up. The people of IronRidge — your people — turned on you so easily. Your position as Luna has been revoked, and you’re left here...to suffer for months and die."

Evangeline wanted to ask what the person wanted... but her next words almost made her heart stop.

"Even though...I framed you for everything, Evangeline." Her smirk got bigger. More wicked, "And there’s nothing you can do about it now. I hope you enjoy your time strapped to this pole, because when I come for you again and tie you to my own pole...you’ll wish you never left this one,"

Fear.

The woman wearing the cloak reeked of this cold, repulsive aura that made fear wrap around Evangeline’s spine.

There was something inhumane about her, and it almost felt as if she wasn’t talking to a mere wolf.

Is she...?

No way.

Adelaide is dead.

Beatrice killed her. Beatrice made sure she was dead.

The dead don’t come back to life.

And after everything this woman just told her, Evangeline was just feeling fear. She could feel sparks of anger in her system.

"Who are you?" She demanded louder this time.

"I would leave you to ponder on that question,"

"Answer me!" Eva shrieked again, "Who the hell are you?!"

The cloaked figure smirked again, "You sound agitated,"

"Stop saying nonsense and show your face!!" Evangeline screamed so loud this time that a few people glanced her way.

"Looks like we would have to postpone our conversation," The cloaked figure said and turned around to leave.

"Where do you think you’re going?! Come back here and explain yourself!! Who the hell are you and what the fuck did you do to me?! What the fuck did I do to make you do this to me?!"

The cloaked figure kept smiling till she was out of sight, and Evangeline remained fixed to her pole. Her pupils were dilated, and there was so much chaos in her mind right now.

Because now she was very sure she wasn’t hallucinating it all.

The changed numbers.

The whole thing in general.

It was someone who had tweaked it all, and then made it perfect enough to seem like there was no doubt it was her.

And she wanted to tell someone.

Or rather, tell Jaime about this.

But after Augustus had stripped him of everything and handed him to Conan like a new slave, who knows if he is still alive?!

.

.

.

The look on her face was somewhat satisfying.

It made her cold heart roar like she was been dropped a thousand feet from the sky. It’s quite unfortunate that she had started yelling and drawing to them.

Della was headed back to the cliffside south of Eclipse Crown, just beyond the Pack borders. Since she had nowhere to stay now, she’d decided to spend the rest of her days either lying next to Lian’s grave...or Annelise’s.

She arrived in a while, lay down right next to the grave and closed her eyes. Above her was a new Moon, reminding her that the Supreme Meeting must have happened just last night.

She wondered if Cassian or Malachi had mentioned something about her. If they did, she would find out sooner or later. Wolves would come after her, trying to hunt her down, and she would gladly turn the tide on them.

Her hand twitched again.

Annoying.

"This is what I have to battle with every day," Della murmured, her eyes still closed, "One against myself, and one against the world," She then turned and stared at the name she had scraped into the large stone, "Cruel, isn’t it?"

Just then, that creepy feeling crawled into the air, and Della’s eyes fell open completely. The hairs on her arm rose, and chills bolted down her spine like a bucket of cold water had just been dumped on her head.

She didn’t move.

Not yet.

She simply waited for the Rotblood standing somewhere behind her to reveal herself instead of watching her. But as minutes passed and the feeling got worse, she finally groaned and sat up.

*I wonder why she’s here again,* Asteria said.

*Think she’s here to convince me to join her again?*

*Well, we are about to find out. She’s walking toward you,*

Della stood up and turned around.