Chapter 77: Before The Directives [VI]

The shift in the atmosphere that followed the Emperor’s words was unmistakable. None of them needed a soothsayer to decipher what that "important mission" had entailed. Even with the lingering traces of expensive perfume clinging to his imperial attire and the fresh scent of soap on his skin, the sharp instincts of the Alpha werewolves in the room could still pick up the unmistakable, musky traces of intimacy lingering around him. Cassian was the first to rise.

Straightening his military-style attire, the King of Perigee bowed his head slightly, though his tone remained sharp and unyielding.

"We offer our sincerest apologies for interrupting your private affairs with Her Imperial Majesty, Your Imperial Majesty," he said, his steel-gray eyes locking onto the Emperor. "However, the matter that brings us here is of paramount importance." His expression hardened. "It concerns one of the Lunar Lottery candidates, Starlight Dawson, and we believe it is a matter that requires our immediate attention."

Alexander already knew this was coming, but that did not make the situation any less troublesome. The moment Lucius Dawson’s daughter was announced as one of the Lunar Lottery winners, he had known it was only a matter of time before a gathering like this took place. There was nothing surprising about the five Clan Heads demanding an explanation. Lucius Dawson was not an unknown name to anyone currently in the Grand Hall, and they all understood exactly what the man represented to their kind. His reputation alone was enough to make even the most powerful werewolves tread carefully. There was no way Lucius would allow his daughter to remain at the academy under these circumstances without eventually making his presence known, and Alexander was not looking forward to that day. He intended to resolve the matter before then, and he had never expected to deal with it without the five Clan Heads eventually getting wind of the situation and demanding answers.

Cassian continued, his expression hardening further. "We would like to know what Your Imperial Majesty intends to do concerning the girl, especially knowing who her father is and what he represents. We need to understand what you are planning, and more importantly, what measures you intend to take before Lucius Dawson decides to intervene himself." With that, Cassian lowered himself back into his seat.

Alexander leaned back against the throne, his fingers tapping once against the armrest before he cleared his throat. "I have been meaning to bring this matter to your attention myself. However, there are certain factors that must be considered before we decide how to proceed." His silver eyes moved slowly across the five rulers. "But since you have chosen to bring the matter to me first, I will tell you what I have been considering. I have been looking for a way to extract Starlight Dawson from Asterion Academy before her current presence there draws Lucius’s attention. Keeping her there indefinitely is not an option if we intend to avoid his wrath. But removing her is no simple task."

He paused, his expression becoming more serious. "Suddenly removing a Lunar Lottery candidate from the academy without a legitimate reason would create more questions, especially among humans. We need a reason that will withstand human scrutiny. Otherwise, our attempt to protect ourselves from Lucius will only attract the most annoying attention of them all. The humans. We all know how they can be—"

A soft cough interrupted him.

Every gaze in the hall shifted toward Sabrina.

For a woman known for her unfailing etiquette, silent restraint, and absolute refusal to engage in petty squabbles, Sabrina’s interruption was startling, if not downright unusual. The Queen of Umbra had rarely been known to interrupt anyone, much less the Emperor himself. She was perhaps the most patient and composed of the five Clan Heads, and she had a habit of listening until the very end before offering her opinion when necessary.

Alexander raised an eyebrow, signaling for her to speak.

Sabrina stood up and inclined her head slightly, her voice as smooth as liquid silk. "I apologize for interrupting you, Your Imperial Majesty," she said calmly, her pale eyes opening to lock onto the Emperor. "But I don’t believe extracting Starlight Dawson from the academy is the right decision."

The room fell silent once more.

Sabrina’s expression remained serene as she continued, "I have reason to believe that girl is what we’ve been waiting for, for centuries."

The effect of her words was immediate.

Stunned silence descended upon the Imperial Grand Hall, so heavy it felt suffocating. The four Kings exchanged shocked glances, their expressions shifting from disbelief to alarm, then settling into something far more serious. Even Alexander’s casual composure vanished, replaced by a tense stillness as the implications of Sabrina’s words sank in. They all understood the weight of what she had just claimed. This was not a prediction she had tossed into the room on a whim. It was the kind of statement that could shake the foundations of everything they had believed for generations.

For centuries, their kind had lived beneath the shadow of a curse they dared not speak of too openly. They had been told there was a solution, a way out of the fate that had been imposed upon their kind, yet after generations of waiting and searching, nothing had ever come of it. Hope had become something dangerous, something they had learned to approach cautiously because every failed attempt at finding a solution only made the failure that followed more painful.

And now Sabrina was standing before them, calmly suggesting that the answer they had spent centuries waiting for might have finally appeared in the form of a girl whose father could start reaping heads if he so much as wished it.

This was a dangerous, ground-shattering assertion. Alexander’s fingers curled slowly around the armrest of his throne. The wood creaked faintly beneath the pressure of his grip as his silver eyes fixed on Sabrina.

"Why do you believe that, Queen Sabrina?"

Sabrina remained unbothered by the heavy scrutiny, her gaze remaining fixed on the Emperor without wavering. "We all know what happened back then," she said gently, choosing not to utter the dark history that every ruler in the room bore as a silent scar. "Since that fateful night, the House of Umbra has known only darkness. The Temple of Umbra has never seen the divine light of the Moon Goddess again. But on the exact day of the Lunar Lottery, the Goddess’s light shone upon the altars of the Umbra Temple once more."

Evander was the first to break the silence. His brow furrowed as he leaned forward slightly. "How certain are you, Queen Sabrina?" His voice was controlled, but there was unmistakable skepticism beneath it. "How certain are you that Starlight Dawson was the reason the light returned? Ten candidates were chosen during the Lunar Lottery. What makes you so certain it was her?"

His gaze sharpened. "For all we know, the sign could have been connected to one of the other candidates. Just because Starlight Dawson is Lucius Dawson’s daughter does not automatically make her special. Whatever her father may represent to our kind, that does not mean his daughter inherited the same significance."

"Evander is right," Cyrus said.

The King of Solstice had remained quiet until then, his pale eyes fixed thoughtfully on Sabrina, his expression as clinical and detached as ever. "We may all acknowledge Lucius Dawson’s reputation, but that does not mean we should automatically assume his family possesses some extraordinary quality simply because of who he is. We know enough about his family to know that none of them has ever displayed anything that would explain a phenomenon of this magnitude."

His gaze shifted briefly toward Alexander. "If we are going to make a claim this serious, we need more than coincidence."

Sabrina listened without interruption. When they finished, she released a slow breath.

"I understand your doubts."

She turned her pale gaze toward Evander. "And if the light had appeared at any other moment, I would have considered the same possibility."

Her expression remained calm, but there was an unmistakable certainty beneath it now.

"But it did not." She paused, her voice lowering slightly. "The light bathed the inner sanctuary at the precise second Starlight Dawson’s name was announced. And that alone would not have been enough for me to make such a claim. But last night, I had a vision. It was not clear. The details remained veiled in an ethereal fog, but the celestial resonance was unmistakable. She is the one we have been waiting centuries for."

She looked toward Alexander again. "I woke with the certainty that the girl is connected to what we have been waiting for."

The Grand Hall remained silent as every leader absorbed the weight of her words, each of them forced to consider the possibility that the solution to their problem might have been closer than they had ever imagined.

Augustus, who had remained silently observing from his seat, finally spoke. His refined, chilling voice cut through the growing skepticism. "I would not dismiss her words so easily. We all know Sabrina is not a woman who speaks without reason, and she is certainly not someone who makes claims of this magnitude based on a passing feeling."

He leaned back slightly, his gaze moving from Sabrina to the others. "The House of Umbra may have lost the Goddess’s visible favor after the Fallen Era, but their lineage remains deeply intertwined with celestial intuition. If Queen Sabrina’s foresight points to this girl, we would be foolish to dismiss her words so lightly."