Marked By Two

No Surrender

​Cassian’s POV

​The words hung in the air like a death sentence. “I choose Noah.”

​A wave of relief washed over me so violently I nearly stumbled, but it was immediately swallowed by a cold, fear. I didn't want her blood on my hands. I didn't want to be the one to break her. But as I looked at my twin, I saw a version of Noah I had never seen in twenty-five years.

​Noah looked paralyzed. His eyes were wide, his chest heaving as if he’d been struck. He wasn't the stoic Alpha anymore; he looked like a man watching his own heart be led to the altar. He was terrified.

​Then, I saw it.

​A faint, smudged streak of red lipstick on the corner of Noah’s lower lip. It wasn't blood. It was the exact shade of the lipstick Aria had been wearing earlier.

​My stomach did a slow, nauseating flip. They had kissed. In the middle of this nightmare, while the estate was still cooling from a m******e, my brother, the so called perfect one, had finally broken. I should have felt a sting of jealousy and I did but i also felt a hollow ache. If he loved her enough to kiss her, how was he going to survive killing her?

​Aria had turned and walked upstairs, her back straight, locking herself away for her final hour. The silence she left behind was suffocating.

​I waited until she was gone before I turned on Elena. She was standing near the Grand Luna, her hands over her stomach in that protective, performative way that was starting to make my skin crawl.

​"Get out," I hissed, stepping into her space. "You don't belong here, Elena. You opened the back door for a monster, and you’re still standing here acting like a martyr. Pack your things and leave the estate and save us the trouble of this drama."

​"Cassian, stop it!" the Grand Luna barked, though her voice lacked its usual iron. She was still shaken from Aria’s outburst, but she straightened her silk robes, her eyes gleaming with a cruel certainty. "Elena is carrying the future of this pack. She stays. Aria, on the other hand, is already a ghost. She won't survive Noah, and you know it. This trial is simply a formal way of burying our mistakes."

​I turned to the Council member, my claws beginning to itch under my skin. "Change the trial. Make it a hunt. Make it anything else. You can't force my brother to execute her."

​The Council member interrupted, leaning back with a bored expression. "She is the accused. And the law is older than your sentiment, Cassian."

​I lunged forward, my hand catching the Council member by his fine silk collar. "I will tear this council apart before I let—"

​"Cassian, let him go."

​It was Noah’s voice. It wasn't a command; it was a plea. He was standing by the window, staring out at the rising moon. He looked defeated. "If you touch him, they’ll arrest us both, and then there will be no one left to protect her."

​I let go, the fire in my blood turning into ash. I felt a crushing sense of defeat. We were the Alphas of the most powerful estate in the region, and we were currently powerless to save one girl from our own mother and a handful of old men.

​The hour felt like a second.

​"Time is up," the Council member announced, his voice echoing through the hollow hall. "Bring the girl down."

​I looked up at the stairs, my heart in my throat, praying for a miracle that I knew wasn't coming.

The tension in the room snapped as Aria reached the bottom of the staircase, her movements fluid despite the weight of the moment. She didn't look at the Grand Luna, and she didn't look at me. Her eyes were fixed solely on Noah, who stood waiting like a man facing his own funeral pyre.

​The Council member stepped into the center of the foyer, his silver-topped cane striking the marble with a hollow, final thud.

​"The terms are set," he announced, his gaze sweeping over the family. "The Silver Trial begins at the stroke of the hour. But to ensure the purity of this rite and to ensure no mercy taints the judgment of the Vaelor line, the Council has added a final mandate."

​I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Noah’s head snapped toward the Councilman, his eyes narrowing.

​"A trial of this magnitude requires a definitive end," the Grand Luna added, her voice regaining its sharp, crystalline edge as she stood beside the official. "Defeat is not enough to cleanse the breach of our magic and mistakes. The Council decrees that the trial shall only end when the winner claims the life of the loser."

​"No!" the word ripped out of my throat before I could stop it. "That wasn't the agreement! You're asking for murder!"

​"We are asking for justice," the Council member countered coldly, ignoring my outburst. He looked at Aria, then at my brother. "If Noah wins, the blood of the traitor is spilled, and the estate is cleansed. If the girl wins, she proves her strength as a Vaelor heir by eliminating the Alpha she stands against. There is no middle ground. There is no surrender."

​I looked at Noah. The blood drained from his face, leaving him a ghostly, ashen grey. He looked at Aria, and I saw the devastating realization hit them both at the same time. This wasn't a fight to stay in the home.

​It was a fight to the death.

​"Time is up," the Council member whispered, his eyes gleaming with the sick anticipation of a spectator. "To the courtyard. Let the Silver judge you.”