Rise of the Forbidden Luna

Chapter 10: The Trial of Silver and Shadow

The morning sun cut through the towering arched windows of the royal wing, spilling pale gold light across the obsidian floors.

I stood in front of the full-length mirror, refusing the soft, silk dresses the servants had laid out for me. Instead, I chose a sleek, form-fitting black gown with a high slit that exposed the sharp line of my leg with every step. It was lethal, regal, and entirely unbothered. I fastened my grandmother’s narrow silver bracelet around my wrist like a piece of armor, lifted my chin, and walked out to face my judgment.

The Grand Imperial Council Hall was already packed to the brim when the guards pushed the heavy iron-banded doors open.

The room was vast, shaped like an amphitheatre of ancient stone, with tiers of seats holding the Lycan Kingdom’s most powerful elders. Down on the accusation benches sat my father, Alpha Richard, alongside Alpha Jaxon’s senior representatives. The moment I stepped into the room, their bloodthirsty, smug glares locked onto me. They looked like vultures waiting for a carcass.

"Aria Soren," the lead council elder boomed, his heavy, graying Alpha aura expanding through the room, attempting to force my knees to buckle. "You stand accused by the Silver Moon pack of high treason, fracturing a sacred fated mate covenant on the altar, and fleeing your territory. The fated laws are absolute. Your pack demands your immediate return for execution."

"Execution?" I let out a short, cold laugh that echoed sharply off the stone walls, cutting right through his oppressive aura. I didn't shrink back. "A covenant requires two living souls, elder. The Silver Moon pack dissolved that contract the moment they laced the ceremonial cups with wolfsbane."

"Silence!" my father snarled from the bench, his face red with humiliation. "You are an ungrateful little b***h who brought shame to our bloodline! Elders, she belongs to our territory by law. Order the Lycan guards to bind her!"

The council elders murmured, their collective dominant auras pressing down on the courtroom floor, making the air thick and suffocating.

But before my heart rate could even spike, the heavy iron doors at the top of the throne platform didn't just open—they exploded inward, hitting the stone walls with a deafening crash.

The entire courtroom choked on their words instantly. The temperature in the hall plummeted to a freezing ice as the raw, unbridled weight of the apex predator flooded the room.

Ethan Voss stepped into the hall.

The Lycan King didn't even glance at his high throne. His long, unhurried strides carried him straight down the marble steps to the courtroom floor. His dark coat fluttered against his boots as he walked right past the trembling council members and stood directly in front of me, completely shielding my body from their glares with his massive, seven-foot frame.

The sudden, overwhelming rush of his presence enveloped my senses completely. He smelled intensely of crisp winter frost, sharp eucalyptus, and that piercing wild mint, mixed with the deep, intoxicating heat of his dominant male pheromones. A fierce, electric tingle ignited beneath my skin, generating a low, sudden ache between my thighs that made my breath catch in my throat. Even in the middle of a trial, the fated pull between us was a magnetic, erotic current that left me dizzy.

Ethan didn't raise his voice, but when he spoke, his gravelly, low baritone made the stone floorboards vibrate. "Who gave this council permission to hold a trial for a guest in my palace?"

Jaxon’s lead representative stood up from the bench, his legs visibly shaking under the weight of Ethan's obsidian aura, but he pushed through his terror. "Sire! She belongs to the Silver Moon pack by blood and fated law! By harborer treaties, she must be returned to us to face her execution! You cannot override the laws of a fated bond!"

Ethan let out a low, wickedly menacing laugh that gave the entire courtroom absolute chills. The sound was smooth, dark, and dripping with bloodlust.

He took a single step toward the representative, the sheer scale of his massive shoulders making the man shrink back. "The Silver Moon pack forfeited their rights the moment they attempted to poison a female under their own roof. You want to talk about fated laws to me, boy?"

With a sudden, deliberate movement, Ethan reached his large, leather-gloved hand behind him. His palm was warm and firm as his fingers securely gripped the nape of my neck. The intimate heat of his touch shot a direct jolt of pure fire straight down my spine, making my core shudder as he gently tilted my head sideways, exposing the bare, untouched skin of my collarbone to the entire council hall.

"Look closely at her neck," Ethan roars, his powerful voice echoing like thunder through the silent courtroom. "She carries no mark, because she broke that pathetic bond with her own hands. She belongs to the Crown now. I am her shield. If any pack crosses my border to claim her, I will view it as a direct act of war against the Lycan throne."

The silence in the grand hall was absolute. Nobody dared to breathe. My father looked completely paralyzed by his own weakness, and Jaxon's representative collapsed back onto the bench, his face pale with pure terror. The Lycan King had just rewritten the political landscape of the entire eastern wild with a single sentence.

Ethan slowly released my neck, though the phantom print of his large hand still burned erotically against my skin. He turned his head to look down at me, the dark line of his jaw relaxing as his lips curved into a dangerous, devastatingly handsome smile. The amber fire in his eyes burned with an intense, raw heat that felt like a physical touch.

"Go to the archives, little tiger," Ethan whispered, his raspy velvet voice fanning against my ear, sending a liquid shiver straight to my core. "Your trial is officially over. Your hunt begins now."