The Council's Decree
729 Words
Chapter 10: The Council’s Decree
The peace of Silas’s chambers was shattered by the horn of the Great Council. It was a sound that hadn't been heard in the Shadow Lands for a century. It was a summons that no shifter, not even a Rogue King, could ignore without declaring total war.
"They're early," Silas growled, pulling away from me. He threw on a dark tunic, his muscles tensing. "The Council doesn't move this fast unless someone has lied to them."
"Jace," I whispered, my heart sinking. "He told them I was kidnapped. He told them you’re using 'dark magic' to keep me here."
"Let them come," Silas said, strapping his twin daggers to his belt. He turned to me, his eyes glowing. "But you stay behind the line of warriors, Elara. They haven't seen a Celestial in generations. They’ll try to cage you."
"I'm done hiding in the back," I said, standing tall. My violet eyes flared. "If they want to judge me, let them see what they're judging."
We walked out to the edge of the Citadel’s plateau. Below us, the valley was filled with thousands of wolves. Leading them was a man who looked like an older, crueler version of Jace: High Alpha Marcus, the head of the Great Council.
Jace stood beside him, his arm bandaged from my fire, looking like a wounded puppy.
"Silas!" Marcus’s voice boomed, amplified by an Alpha’s command that made the trees tremble. "You stand accused of harboring a runaway, defying a fated mate bond, and using forbidden relics. Hand over the girl, and we will leave your mountain standing."
Silas stepped to the edge, his aura expanding until it met Marcus’s head-on. The air between them crackled with static. "She isn't a 'girl' to be handed over, Marcus. She is a free woman who chose this path. And as for the bond—your son broke it the moment he rejected her on the sacred stone."
"A rejection by a young Alpha is a mistake that can be cured by the Council!" Marcus bellowed. He pointed a silver-tipped staff at me. "Elara Vance, by the laws of the Moon Goddess, you are ordered to return to the Crescent Moon Pack to complete your mating. If you refuse, you will be declared Feral, and every pack in the continent will be hunted to kill you."
The crowd of Rogues behind me growled, but I could feel their fear. To be declared Feral was a death sentence.
I stepped forward, past Silas, until I was standing on the very edge of the cliff.
"You talk about the Moon Goddess," I said, my voice calm but carrying across the valley like a bell. "But you don't even know her. You think she only gives power to Alphas who scream the loudest?"
I raised my hand toward the morning sun.
"I am Elara, the Celestial of the Sun. I am the Mate of the King of Shadows."
I didn't just flicker this time. I let the floodgates open. A pillar of gold light shot from my body into the sky, turning the morning blue into a brilliant, blinding white. The heat was so intense that the snow on the mountain peaks began to melt into rushing waterfalls.
The High Alpha’s horse bucked, throwing him into the dirt. The thousands of wolves in the valley didn't howl—they fell silent. One by one, the lower-ranking wolves began to shift back into human form and drop to their knees.
I looked down at Jace. He looked terrified. Not just because of my power, but because he realized I would never be his Luna. I was his judge.
"Go back," I commanded, my voice echoing with the weight of a thousand suns. "Tell the Council that the age of the Wolf is over. The age of the Sun has begun."
But as the light began to fade, Marcus scrambled to his feet, his face twisted in a mask of pure hatred. He pulled a small, black vial from his cloak—Void Dust.
"If we cannot have the sun," Marcus screamed, throwing the vial into the air, "then no one will!"
The black dust exploded, turning into a cloud of anti-matter that rushed toward me, deadening the light and freezing my very blood.
Silas roared, diving in front of me just as the darkness hit.
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