Chapter 5 — The King's Decision
1620 Words
Ronan’s POV
The scent of deception clung to the hall long after the doors closed.
I stood at the center of the throne room, the torches casting jagged shadows against the marble pillars. The air was thick with unease, the guards stiff, the council silent. And at the far end of the room, trembling in her stolen gown, was the girl.
Not the golden-haired daughter I was promised.
Not the Vaelith jewel they swore would strengthen our alliance.
A servant.
Her head was bowed, veil torn, hands bound at her front. The silk of her gown looked wrong on her, too heavy, too proud for someone who flinched at every sound. Yet even now, beneath the fear, I could sense something else. Something that made my wolf stir restlessly within me.
“Who are you?” I asked again, my voice echoing through the hall.
She swallowed hard, eyes still fixed on the floor. “A-Aria, my lord. Aria Loff.”
“Loff?” one of the councilmen repeated with a sneer. “A servant's name.”
“Answer me properly,” I commanded.
She flinched. “I’m… from the Vaelith estate, my Lord. A maid. Lady Selene’s cousin… distantly.”
Her words were soft, shaky, but honest. At least she wasn’t foolish enough to keep lying.
I paced slowly around her, my boots echoing against the marble. “A maid was sent to marry me.” My tone was flat, but the fury beneath it simmered like molten iron. “Do the Vaeliths take me for a fool?”
“N-no, my lord. I swear, I didn’t— I didn’t know until it was too late.”
I stopped behind her. “Until it was too late?”
She nodded weakly. “They said it was my duty. That the goddess chose me… that if I refused…” Her voice cracked, breaking into a whisper. “They would throw me out.”
Silence stretched for several long seconds. The council exchanged looks, some disgusted, some wary. I could almost taste their fear.
I stepped around her again, stopping when our eyes met.
Her fear was raw. But behind it, there was defiance. A quiet kind of strength that didn’t belong to a servant.
My wolf growled, low in my chest, She’s not lying.
The thin councilman, Lord Draven, cleared his throat. “My king, this is… unacceptable. The Vaeliths have insulted the Blackthorn name.”
“Yes,” another councilor agreed. “This deceit cannot go unpunished. The alliance must be reconsidered.”
“Reconsidered?” I turned sharply toward them. “The entire realm has witnessed this union. The ceremony was announced, the goddess’s rites invoked. You would have me shame the pack by calling it off?”
“My lord,” Draven said carefully, “with respect, the goddess cares not for appearances. You need not keep this… imposter.”
I studied Aria again. She stood frozen, her breath coming in short, frightened bursts. The scent of fear rolled off her, but beneath it was something else,earth and rain and something faintly wild.
“Tell me, maid,” I said. “Why didn’t you run?”
She blinked, startled. “What?”
“When they told you to wear her gown. When they put you in that carriage. You had a choice, to run, or obey. Why did you stay?”
Her lips trembled. For a moment, she didn’t answer.
“Because I’ve spent my whole life running from what I am,” she said quietly. “And this time… I didn’t have anywhere left to go.”
Her honesty caught me off guard. The hall went still.
Even Draven hesitated.
I leaned forward slightly, voice dropping. “And what are you, Aria Loff?”
Her eyes lifted, just barely meeting mine. “An omega, my lord.”
Gasps rippled through the council. A few muttered under their breath, disgusted.
An omega. The lowest rank. A servant of servants. And yet, her wolf stirred beneath her skin like a caged storm. Weak, yes, but alive.
An omega… who dared look at me.
Draven stepped forward. “My king, this is madness. An omega cannot be Luna. It would be a disgrace to the council, to the packs—”
“Enough,” I said softly.
He froze.
I turned away from them all and walked toward the throne. The flames along the walls flickered as I passed, shadows stretching like claws.
The goddess had cursed me with this face. With this power. With a kingdom that bowed to my name and feared my touch. And now, she sent me this trembling girl, a servant wearing silk and terror in equal measure.
Was it another curse?
Or retribution?
Behind me, Aria whispered, “Please… I didn’t want this.”
I paused at the foot of the throne. “And yet here you stand.”
Her voice broke. “Because I had no choice.”
For a moment, I said nothing. Then I turned to face her again, the fragile imposter, the trembling omega who should’ve fainted from fear by now but hadn’t.
The council waited for my verdict. My decision would decide not just her fate, but the pack’s.
One of the council men spoke cautiously this time. “Alpha, you know the importance of this alliance. Without a Luna, the packs will doubt your leadership. You cannot wait another season. The Blackthorn throne needs an heir.”
Another councilor nodded. “Yes, my king. Whatever the Vaeliths’ treachery, the ceremony cannot be undone. The bond has been declared before the goddess.”
Their words dripped with reason, but I knew what they really feared,instability. Chaos. A pack without a Luna was vulnerable.
My wolf snarled in my mind, She’s ours now. Marked by fate.
I clenched my fists. Fate. I’d never believed in that word. Yet every time I looked at her, I felt something coil tight in my chest, something I didn’t want to name.
I walked toward her slowly, each step echoing through the hall.
She lowered her head again, tears glinting on her lashes.
When I stopped in front of her, I said, “Look at me.”
She hesitated, then did.
For the second time that night, her eyes met mine, and my world went utterly still. She looked terrified.
I exhaled once, slow and controlled. “Very well.”
The council leaned forward.
I raised my voice so all could hear. “The Vaeliths have deceived this court. They will answer for their treachery in due time.”
Draven nodded, relief softening his features. “Then you’ll annul the ceremony—”
“No.”
Every head snapped toward me.
I stepped closer to Aria. “The goddess witnessed the vow, and I will not invite her wrath by undoing it. A Luna was promised to this throne, and a Luna will sit upon it.”
The whispers began instantly. Shock. Fear. Outrage.
Aria looked up at me in disbelief, her lips parting. “My lord—”
“Silence.” I didn’t mean for the word to sound harsh, but it came out like a blade. Her breath hitched, and I softened my tone. “You will speak when you’re Luna.”
She froze, wide-eyed. “L-Luna?”
I turned back to the council. “Send word to the packs. There will be no delay. The coronation will proceed at dawn.”
“Alpha, this is—”
I cut Draven off with a glare. “Do you question your king’s decision?”
He lowered his head instantly. “Never, my lord.”
I could hear the muttering ripple through the court, disbelief, outrage, barely contained fury. But none dared defy me. None ever did.
The guards shifted nervously as I approached the dais once more. I stopped beside the throne, resting a hand on its cold armrest.
“Bring her forward,” I said.
Two guards moved, guiding Aria to the foot of the dais. She walked stiffly, hands trembling, eyes glistening with confusion and fear.
“Aria Loff,” I said, my voice carrying through the hall. “You came here in deceit, yet you stand in truth. You were not chosen by the Vaeliths… but perhaps the goddess chose you herself.”
She shook her head, tears spilling freely now. “Please… I can’t be Luna. I’m not—”
“You are what I say you are.”
Her breath caught.
I stepped down from the dais until I stood before her again, close enough that I could see the fine tremor in her lips. “And I say you will be Luna. Of Blackthorn. Of me.”
Her heart raced, I could hear it, wild and fragile, like a trapped bird.
“Do you understand what that means?” I asked quietly.
She nodded weakly. “It means my life isn’t mine anymore."
Something in my chest twisted. “It never was.”
Then I turned to face the hall.
The council straightened, the guards lowered their heads, and the torches flared brighter, as if the palace itself was listening.
I raised my voice, low, commanding, final.
“Before this court, before the council, and before the Moon Goddess herself, I declare Aria Loff—”
The words rumbled from deep within me, shaking the silence like thunder.
“—as my Luna.”
Gasps filled the hall.
Aria’s eyes widened in shock, her lips parting as if to protest, but the words died before they could form.
The air shimmered faintly around us, the scent of power filling the space, the goddess acknowledging the vow.
And just like that, her fate and mine were sealed.
- Writer
