CHAPTER 55
1115 Words
The doors to the council chamber were sealed, not with force, but with intent.
Lord Roland Everglade sat across from Elder Kion, a wide table layered with relics and maps between them. A low flame crackled in the hearth, its warmth doing little to soften the air between the two men.
“It is time,” Lord Roland said, folding his hands. “Our realms are unsteady. We cannot afford more fractures. The Hollow has already taken more than we can spare.”
Elder Kion, old and sharp-eyed, didn’t speak immediately. He regarded Roland as one might a coiled serpent—aware, cautious, but never cowed.
“And so your solution is… marriage?”
“An alliance,” Roland corrected, his voice even. “A binding. Between my daughter, Rebekah, and Alpha Kai of the Whitemoon Pack.”
The air stilled.
Elder Kion leaned back. “You would have Kai marry your daughter? After everything?”
“She is touched, yes,” Roland said. “But she has returned. She is stable. And she still commands sympathy from the realm. If we present a united front—Whitemoon and Everglade—it will quiet the whispers. The doubts about Elise. About your council’s leadership.”
Kion’s gaze sharpened. “So that’s what this is. A way to erase Elise from memory.”
“She has served her purpose,” Roland replied coldly. “But the people want safety now. Not prophecy. Not riddles. Becky has returned from the Between alive. She is proof of resilience.”
“And what of Kai’s choice?”
Roland gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “He will do what is necessary. He always has.”
Kion rose, not in agreement, but in resignation. “You want approval.”
“I want it known that Whitemoon and Everglade stand together. That’s all.” Roland gestured to a binding stone between them. “We mark the union. Tonight, it becomes public.”
Kion didn’t touch the stone. But he didn’t stop it either.
By dusk, the bells of Everglade rang once—not for mourning, not for danger, but for declaration.
The binding had been set.
Whispers moved like wildfire through the trees, through the towns. Some called it a truce. Others called it betrayal.
Elise heard it not from the council, not from the elders, but from Saelin.
She had spent the day in silence, watching over Becky’s still form. The girl hadn’t stirred. Not once. Her breathing was shallow but steady. The markings on her skin had dulled to a faint silver-blue.
“She doesn’t even look like herself,” Elise whispered, half to herself.
When the door creaked open, she didn’t look up.
Saelin’s voice was hushed. “You should see this.”
A scroll was handed to her. Official. Sealed with both the Everglade crest and the mark of Whitemoon.
Elise broke it open.
Her eyes scanned the words, but they didn’t register—until one line pierced through everything else.
“The Binding of Names: Rebekah Everglade and Alpha Kai of the Whitemoon Pack.”
Her breath caught.
She read it again.
“No,” she said softly. “No, this isn’t—this isn’t right.”
“She must’ve known,” Saelin murmured. “Even if she’s not speaking now.”
Elise stood, fists clenched at her sides. She turned to Becky’s bed.
“You knew, didn’t you?” Her voice cracked. “You let me sit here. You let me believe you came back different.”
No response.
“Was this your plan all along? You just wanted power handed to you again?” Elise stepped closer. “You knew this would cut me out. You knew it would make me small again. You used Kai—”
Becky didn’t move.
Elise laughed bitterly. “Of course. Of course you did.”
She turned and walked to the door. “I should’ve left you in the Between.”
At sunset, the square outside the main hall was filled. Elders, soldiers, servants, even children had gathered to hear the announcement. No one spoke above a whisper.
Roland stood at the front, a ceremonial robe draped over his shoulders. His voice was solemn, regal.
“Today, we honor unity. Today, Everglade and Whitemoon seal a bond that will steady our realm.”
To his right stood Alpha Kai of the Whitemoon Pack.
Stone-faced. Silent.
Not defiant. Not accepting.
Just… distant.
Becky was not beside him.
But her absence didn’t matter.
The deed was done.
Elise stood in the back of the crowd with Saelin beside her. She said nothing. Just stared.
As if staring hard enough could undo it.
It couldn’t.
It never had.
Behind closed doors, Mira was fuming.
She paced the chamber like a trapped animal, the message scroll in her clenched hand. “They didn’t even ask him. They didn’t even ask him, Saelin!”
Saelin stayed near the window. “He’s the Alpha. He’s never had a choice.”
“That’s not an excuse!” Mira spun. “He was the one who stood by Elise during the tribunal. The one who bled for her in the Hollow’s edge. And now this? You expect me to believe he just stood there and said nothing?”
“He didn’t say anything,” Saelin replied. “But he didn’t refuse, either.”
Mira threw the scroll across the room. “Then he’s a coward.”
A silence settled.
Saelin didn’t disagree.
Later that night, Elise sat alone by the lake. The surface was still, the moonlight broken only by the occasional ripple. Her fingers dug into the cold earth beside her, fists clenched.
Rebekah Everglade and Alpha Kai of the Whitemoon Pack.
The words played on a loop inside her skull.
She had watched the Hollow take people and never return them. She had survived exile, fire, betrayal. But nothing hollowed her like this did.
She wasn’t even angry.
Not really.
She was tired.
So tired of being used for what people feared, and then cast aside when they craved comfort instead.
Her lips moved, but her voice was barely a whisper. “You said you’d never let them choose for you again.”
Behind her, a twig snapped. She didn’t turn.
She already knew who it was.
But she didn’t give him the dignity of acknowledgement.
Not tonight.
Across the realm, the message was received.
The elders of the Northern Crags called it “prudent.”
The coven at Stoneglass simply laughed.
The scattered packs along the coast folded their banners and said nothing.
And in the Hollow, where no voice was supposed to reach—
a whisper began to stir.
- Writer
