Cursed Bonds The Wolfless Luna's Redemption

The Past Resurface

Chloe's POV

The Silverpine crest lay on the council table like a threat.

No one touched it. It was old, scratched along one edge, but I knew the shape of the pine branches, the crescent cut into the centre, the tiny notch left by the smith who had made every officer's insignia in my uncle's court.

Theron stood at the head of the table. "Who carries it?"

"A man called Elias Vane," the messenger said. "He claims he served the Silverpine council."

My stomach tightened. I knew the name. He had once brought medicine when fever swept the nursery and refused payment from families who had nothing. That memory made his arrival worse. Men who seemed decent could still carry ruin through a gate. Elias had been one of Gareth's border captains.

"Claims?" Kael asked.

"He came alone. No horse. No weapons we could find."

"Then you didn't look hard enough," Kael said.

Theron's attention stayed on me. "Do you know him?"

"Yes."

Seraphine folded her hands. "A friend?"

"No."

"An enemy?"

I looked at the crest. "That depends on why he's here."

Kael pushed back his chair. "We question him in the lower cells."

"He asked for Chloe," Theron said. "He'll speak in this room."

"That is exactly why he should not."

Theron turned his head. Kael held his gaze for a moment, then sat.

I noticed Seraphine watching the exchange with quiet satisfaction, as though every disagreement between Theron and his council added weight to an argument she hadn't made yet.

Thorne broke the silence. "How did a Silverpine officer reach the western gate on foot without being seen by our patrols?"

The messenger paled. "I don't know, my lord."

"Find out," Theron said.

Marcus reached for the crest but stopped before touching it. "It may be genuine."

"It is," I said.

"You're certain?"

"I wore one like it for three years." The reminder landed harder than I intended. Gareth had ripped mine away before the elders burned the binding mark into my wrist.

Theron's hand closed around the back of my chair. "Bring Vane," he ordered.

The guards returned with Elias between them. His dark hair had grown past his collar, and a healing cut split one eyebrow. Mud covered his boots.

He stopped when he saw me. "Luna."

I rose slowly. "Don't call me that."

His gaze dropped to the mark at my wrist. Anger moved across his face, raw and brief. "I heard what they did."

"You were there."

"I was at the northern boundary."

"You came back."

"Too late."

"You have one chance to explain why you crossed my border," Theron said.

Elias looked at him, then at me. "Silverpine is preparing for war."

Marcus moved first, pulling the western map closer. "Against us?"

"Against whoever holds her."

Theron went still. I had learned that his anger was loudest when he stopped moving.

Elias continued. "Alpha Gareth told the council she was taken by force. He says the Shadow Court abducted a weakened Luna and used forbidden magic to bind her."

"That's a lie," I said.

"I know."

"Does the pack?"

"Some do. Most believe what they need to believe."

Kael's voice cut through the room. "How many fighters?"

"Four hundred ready now. More if Gareth calls the outer families."

Marcus swore under his breath.

"What does he actually want?" I asked.

Elias met my eyes. "You."

Theron crossed the remaining distance before anyone could stop him. His hand closed around Elias's throat and drove him back against a pillar.

The guards drew their swords. Elias did not fight.

"You walked into my court," Theron said quietly, "to deliver a claim on my mate?"

"Theron." My voice reached him.

His grip remained tight for another breath, then loosened. Elias dropped to one knee, coughing.

"He didn't make the claim," I said. "He carried it."

Theron looked down at the man. "That distinction is keeping him alive."

Seraphine rose and poured water into an untouched cup, offering it to Elias with steady hands.

"Why warn us?" Seraphine asked.

Elias drank, watching her over the rim. "Because Gareth isn't marching to recover Chloe. He's marching to bury what she knows."

My skin went cold. "What do I know?"

"That your exile was ordered before the council ever met."

Nine days. Before the accusations. Before the elders pretended to weigh my failures. Before my uncle stood in the council circle and called the sentence necessary.

"You're lying," I said.

"I saw the order. Gareth sent it to Elder Maris nine days before your judgment."

Theron came to my side. "Why?"

Elias glanced at the people around the table. "Not here."

Kael laughed without humour. "You are in no position to choose the room."

"There is a traitor in this court."

The words cut deeper than a shout. No one moved.

Elias reached inside his coat. Three blades cleared their sheaths. Theron pulled me behind him, shadow gathering around his hands.

Elias slowly withdrew a folded strip of parchment and placed it on the floor. "I found that on a Silverpine courier two nights ago."

Marcus retrieved it and carried it to Theron. The seal had been broken. The message itself was written in cipher, rows of hooked symbols and numbers that meant nothing to me.

Thorne leaned across the table. "That is our diplomatic code."

Seraphine's cup clicked softly against its saucer. Kael heard it.

Marcus read the symbols, his face hardening. "It confirms the convoy routes."

"And something else," Elias said.

Marcus looked up.

"The final line names the next target."

Theron took the parchment from him. I watched his eyes move once across the page. The shadows around his hands vanished.

"What does it say?" I asked.

He folded the message. "Nothing."

I knew immediately that he was lying.

"Theron."

"We'll discuss it privately."

"No." I stepped around him. "They came here because of me. Gareth ordered my exile before the trial, someone in this room is feeding him information, and now you're deciding what I'm allowed to hear?"

His jaw tightened. "This is not the time."

"It became the time when you asked me to sit at this table."

For a moment, neither of us yielded.

Seraphine watched us with lowered lashes. Thorne watched Seraphine. Kael watched everyone.

Finally, Theron handed me the message. Marcus translated the last line.

"Once the western stores burn, take the woman alive. Kill the king before the moon turns."

The words sat between us.

I read them again, though I no longer needed the cipher explained.

Take the woman alive. Kill the king.

I looked at Elias. "Who sent this?"

"I don't know."

"Who received it?"

"I don't know that either."

Kael stood. "Convenient."

"I came because one name was written beneath the seal."

Theron's expression changed.

Elias reached into his coat again, slower this time, and removed a smaller scrap of parchment. Unlike the first, it bore no cipher. Only a signature. He held it out to me.

I recognised the handwriting before I read the name. For years, that hand had signed my household orders, approved my ceremonial gowns, and left small notes beside tea when court sessions ran late.

My breath caught.

The name at the bottom of the page was

Elder Maris.