Chapter 47: I’ll Confess
"You are the one standing on the block, not her," Elder Seraphine’s voice sliced through the heavy air like a silver blade. "So, shut your jaws to the side-talk and answer the charge."
Kat flinched, shifting uncomfortably in her heavy wooden chair. She adjusted the thick furs around her shoulders, the scent of her sweat turning sharp and frantic. "And what question is that, Elder?" she asked, trying to force a calm she clearly didn’t possess.
"Did you poison the child?" Elder Magnus’s thundering baritone demanded, his silver-gray eyes boring into her skull. "Yes or no, Kat. Give this Council a straight answer."
Kat’s gaze flickered to Kaleb for a split second, searching his rigid face for a lifeline, before she forced her eyes back to the high dais. "No," she said simply, her voice hollow.
"Liar!" River growled inside Rhea’s head, her spectral fangs baring in absolute fury.
Rhea shook her head, pressing a cold palm flat against her forehead to stop the violent throbbing in her temples.
"Interesting," Elder Seraphine murmured, her ancient, clawed fingers unrolling a piece of weathered parchment. She looked down at the markings, her lips curling into a tight snarl. "Because we have already taken sworn blood-statements from three of the former nursery servants."
Kat’s eyes widened, the pupils contracting into tiny pinpricks before she quickly tried to smooth her features. "As I stated before, those omegas hate me," she said, her voice dripping with bitter venom. "They would whisper any foul lie to the Council because I am not their beloved Luna Rhea."
"She’s deflecting," Rhea murmured under her breath, her chest tightening as she tapped her boot restlessly against the stone floor, the sound mimicking her frantic heartbeat.
Across the room, Kaleb scoffed loudly, throwing his head back in a display of arrogant disbelief. "This is a joke!" he barked, shaking his head. "The Council is listening to the gossip of low-ranking servants!"
Elder Magnus paid the disgraced Alpha no mind. He nodded slowly, looking down at the scroll once more before his gaze snapped back to Kat. He reached into his robes and pulled out a small, dark glass vial, setting it on the table with a heavy clink.
"You claim you did not poison the boy, yet this exact slow-acting venom was retrieved from the folds of your dress when you arrived at our borders begging for our intervention."
Kat stared at the tiny bottle, her face draining of what little color it had left. "That’s not mine! Someone planted it on me!" her voice cracked, the first real notes of desperation creeping into her tone as her scent soured. "Why would I carry venom around with me? It’s a setup!"
"May we remind you that you are speaking under a blood oath, Luna?" Elder Rowan cut in, his eyes narrowing to sharp slits. "If this Council discovers that you have lied to our faces, you will be stripped of your pack marks. You will be driven from these lands and branded an outcast. Or worse, a rogue, left to be hunted by any pack that catches your scent."
Kat’s eyes darted frantically. She looked at Kaleb, then shot a nervous, terrified glance toward Adam, before she quickly dropped her head, her fingers fumbling and twisting together in her lap.
Rhea’s brows pulled tight as she watched the subtle shift in her sister’s posture. Why does she look so terrified when she looks at the two of them? A sickening intuition flared in her gut. Kat wasn’t just lying, someone in this room was keeping her silent.
"I don’t know anything else," Kat whispered, her shoulders collapsing.
"So you are standing by your denial?" Elder Magnus pressed.
Kat swallowed hard, her throat visibly bobbing as she stared at the floor, but her jaws remained tightly sealed.
Rhea leaned forward in her seat, her silver eyes drilling into her sister’s side. "Did you poison my boy, Kat?" she asked, her voice dropping into a raw, breaking whisper. "Please, just tell me the truth. From one mother to another, look at me and tell me the truth."
Kat slowly lifted her head, her gaze locking onto Rhea’s, and then her lips curled into a sneer of pure, unfiltered disgust. "The boy was in the way!" she spat, the venom in her voice echoing off the stone walls. "What did you expect me to do? Let my own son lose everything?"
"So you admit it? You did it?" Rhea whispered, her heart hammering so violently against her ribs it felt like it would burst. Inside her mind, River let out a raw, agonizing wail, a sound of profound grief that vibrated through their shared bond.
Kat sneered at Rhea’s pain, but the bravado shattered the moment she turned back to face the grim expressions of the high elders. "I have told you everything I know! I just did what I needed to do for my son," she cried, her voice rising into a panicked shriek. "Please, just help me find him!"
"No! She deserves nothing but the silver block!" River barked in a violent frenzy, clawing at Rhea’s consciousness. "Let me out, Rhea! Let me rip her tongue out myself! Let me unleash the beast’s justice!"
The three elders leaned their heads close together, their deep voices dropping into low, gravelly grumbles as they muttered among themselves. The heavy atmosphere in the room stretched until it was taut as a bowstring.
Finally, Elder Seraphine cleared her throat, drawing herself up to her full, imposing height as she looked down at Kat.
"Your son will be tracked and recovered," she declared, her tone cold and unyielding. "But you have proven to every wolf seated in this chamber that you do not possess the soul of a true mother."
Kat blinked, her breath hitching. "What? What does that mean?"
Beside her, Kaleb leaned forward, his massive hands gripping the armrests as his jaw hardened into iron.
"The moment your son is recovered, he will be placed under the direct custody and guardianship of the Grand Council," the elder announced.
"What?! Hell no! That is my blood! That is my heir!" Kaleb was the first to explode, his chair scraping violently against the stone as he jolted to his feet, his dominant aura flaring in a desperate bid for control.
"Sit down, Duskbane!" Elder Magnus roared back, a wave of pure, crushing Alpha energy rolling off the high dais and slamming into Kaleb, forcing him back.
"You cannot take my baby!" Kat screamed, her chest heaving as she threw herself forward against the wooden rail. "Tell them, Kaleb! Do something!"
"I will not allow this!" Kaleb snarled, his amber eyes shifting to a wild, golden glow as his inner wolf fought to take the reins.
Elder Magnus slammed his massive fist down on the dark wood table, a sound like a thunderclap that instantly silenced the room.
"There are only two paths before you, Kat," he said, his voice flat and deadly as he stared at the trembling woman. "Choose now. Either your pups enter our custody for their own protection, or you are branded a rogue tonight, and your sons will be cast out into the wilderness to starve along with you. What is your choice?"
"No! Please!" Kat collapsed against the rail, hot tears finally spilling over her pale cheeks as she looked up at the dais. "I’ll confess! I’ll tell you everything! Just spare my sons!"
The high elders leaned forward in unison, their heavy forearms coming down onto the dark wood table with a dull thud that echoed off the stone walls.
Inside Rhea’s mind, River rose fully onto her paws, her phantom fur bristling as a low, murderous rumble vibrated in her throat.
Kaleb sat rigid, his jaw a frozen line of iron as he stared at Kat, his chest heaving as he waited for the strike. But Adam remained completely unbothered, leaning back in his carved chair, his heavy amber eyes pinned to Kat like a predator tracking a dying deer.
"Speak now!" Elder Seraphine commanded.
Kat’s shoulders collapsed. "Fine," she whispered. "I poisoned him."
The entire chamber went silent.
