Chapter 7 - THE RECKONING
Lyra descended the grand marble staircase beside Damon, her steps slow, graceful, and measured. The crowds of high nobles parted before them like water before a bow, bowing low as the King and the Frost-Fenrir Queen passed.
Lyra’s eyes swept across the room, locking directly onto the Crescent Moon delegation.
When her gaze met Callum’s, the young warrior felt as if an invisible, icy hand had clamped around his throat. The weak, trembling girl he had mocked, rejected, and humiliated before his entire pack was gone. Standing before him was a predator so far above him in power and status that his own inner wolf immediately dropped to its knees, whimpering in absolute terror inside his mind.
Shift down! Submit! Callum’s wolf screamed inside his head, terrified. Submit to the Queen!
Callum gritted his teeth, forcing his trembling knees to stay straight, sweat breaking out along his forehead.
Damon and Lyra stopped directly in front of the Crescent Moon group. Alpha Dominic immediately bowed low, bringing his fist to his heart. "Your Grace," Dominic said, his voice trembling slightly. "Crescent Moon honors your invitation."
"Alpha Dominic," Damon replied smoothly, his golden eyes cold as ice. "I believe you recognize my guest."
Beta Arthur stepped forward, his eyes glossy with unshed tears, reaching out a trembling hand toward Lyra. "Lyra... my daughter... by the ancestors, what... what has happened to you? Your aura... your hair..."
"Do not call me your daughter, Beta Arthur," Lyra said, her voice smooth as silk, yet cutting like a diamond blade. "You lost the right to call me that the day you stood in the hall and watched your future head warrior tear my spirit apart, and said nothing to defend me."
Arthur flinched as if struck, lowering his hand in deep shame.
Lyra then shifted her gaze to her mother, Evelyn, who was trembling violently behind her husband. Lyra reached into the small silver velvet pouch hanging from her wrist and pulled out a small handful of fine gray dust. She stepped forward and let the dust spill slowly from her fingers, raining down onto the toes of Evelyn’s emerald shoes.
"The Vespera Knot is broken, Mother," Lyra whispered softly, though her voice carried across the quiet circle of onlookers. "The dark amulet you put around my neck when I was three years old has been turned to ash. The green gem is gone. My wolf is free."
Evelyn gasped, tears streaming down her pale cheeks as she stumbled back, her hand covering her mouth in sheer terror.
Alpha Dominic’s eyes widened in horror as he looked between Evelyn and the dust on the floor. "Evelyn... what is she talking about? What amulet?"
"She cursed me, Alpha Dominic," Lyra declared, turning her head to address the entire gathered court of lords who were leaning in, listening to every word. "Seventeen years ago, my own mother worked with a dark practitioner to place a suppression curse on my newborn spirit. She chained my ancient Frost-Fenrir bloodline, starving my wolf, so that Crescent Moon could hide me from the royal purges and keep me as a weak, controllable pawn!"
Gasps of horror and disgust echoed through the surrounding nobles.
"Is this true, Evelyn?!" Alpha Dominic roared, turning on his Beta’s wife with sudden, terrifying Alpha fury. "Did you bring dark magic into my pack?!"
"I... I had to!" Evelyn sobbed, collapsing to her knees on the marble floor. "The dark lords were hunting the Frost bloodline! They would have killed us all if they knew Arthur had taken in a baby of the royal line after her true parents were murdered! I did it to save her life!"
"You didn't do it to save her life!" Damon’s voice cut through the air like a thunderclap, his sovereign authority slamming down onto the room, freezing everyone in place. "You did it to leech her power! You used her suppressed magical reservoir to fuel your own family's status in Crescent Moon, while letting her live as an outcast!"
Lyra stepped past her weeping mother and stopped directly in front of Callum Thorne.
The young warrior was shaking. The golden aura of his warrior status was completely smothered beneath the suffocating silver pressure emanating from Lyra.
"And you," Lyra said softly, looking up into Callum’s terrified amber eyes. "Callum Thorne. You looked at me two months ago and told me the Moon Goddess made a mistake. You told me I was too weak to stand beside you. You told me I could never give you strong heirs."
Callum swallowed hard, his throat dry as bone. "Lyra... I... I didn't know... the bond... I felt the bond, I just—"
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"You felt the bond," Lyra interrupted, her silver eyes blazing with absolute contempt. "And you threw it away because you were too arrogant, too blind, and too pathetic to see past a surface impression. You wanted a strong mate, Callum? Look at me now."
Lyra stepped closer, leaning in until her lips were inches from his ear. "I am the Frost-Fenrir Queen. And you are just a dog barking at the moon."
