Chapter 3
1572 Words
RAVIENNE
I was not prepared for the courtroom.
I thought I was.
I kept repeating it to myself while the guards dragged me through endless marble corridors lined with armed wolves who refused to meet my eyes. I told myself that nothing could hurt more than watching my daughter struggle to breathe in that bed.
But the moment the towering doors to the Hall of Judgment swung open, I realized how terribly wrong I had been.
Nothing could have prepared me for the way the entire pack looked at me.
Like I was already dead.
The massive courtroom stretched before me in suffocating silence. Dark wooden pillars soared toward the vaulted ceiling, while iron chandeliers burned with cold golden light. The ancient Crescent Ridge sigil was carved deep into the marble floor beneath my bare feet—a crown, a wolf, and blood curling beneath them both.
My blood.
The room was already full. Elders sat in a raised semicircle at the far end, court officials standing rigidly beneath them with scrolls and records in hand. Guards lined the walls like stone statues, weapons strapped across their backs. Lower-ranking wolves filled the benches behind them, whispering among themselves—until the moment I stepped inside.
Then every sound died.
Every eye turned toward me.
And in that crushing silence, I understood something I had never truly grasped before:
A Luna is only powerful while she is loved.
Not when she is accused.
The guards shoved me forward roughly. My bare feet slid across the icy marble, and I nearly stumbled before catching myself at the last second. Pain still throbbed through my exhausted body from sleepless nights at Ashlyn’s bedside, but I forced my spine straight.
Do not break.
Not here.
Not in front of them.
My gaze searched the courtroom desperately.
Knox.
He had to be here. He had to know this was wrong.
At first, I couldn’t find him. Then my eyes lifted to the highest point of the hall.
There he was.
Alpha Knox Arden sat upon the shadowed throne behind the elders, dressed in black ceremonial robes trimmed with silver. His expression was unreadable beneath the dim light, his posture as cold and rigid as carved stone.
He was not looking at me.
Not once.
As if I weren’t even worth the effort of his gaze.
Something inside my chest cracked painfully.
“Knox,” I called out before I could stop myself. My voice rang loudly through the silent hall.
Still, he did not move. Did not turn. Did not acknowledge me.
Only the faint tightening of his jaw revealed that he had heard.
And somehow, that silence hurt far worse than any scream ever could.
The guards forced me toward the center of the courtroom, stopping at a circular marking carved into the marble floor. A circle of judgment. A stage. A cage.
One of the elders rose slowly to his feet.
“Ravienne Arden,” he announced, his voice booming through the hall. “You are hereby summoned under charges of attempted murder, betrayal of pack law, and treason against the Crescent Ridge Pack.”
My breath stopped completely.
“What?” I whispered in disbelief.
Treason? Attempted murder?
The words felt unreal, as though they belonged to someone else.
“I did nothing,” I said quickly, turning toward the elders in desperation. “There has to be a mistake. I swear there is a mistake.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
The elder raised a hand sharply. “Silence.”
The room obeyed instantly.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
“Lady Lilian Voss has testified against you,” the elder continued calmly.
My head snapped up.
Lilian?
“I have never harmed her,” I said firmly. “I haven’t even seen her since yesterday morning.”
The elder remained unmoved.
Another figure stepped forward—one of the royal healers. He held a sealed glass vial carefully in both hands.
“This substance was discovered inside the personal chambers of the accused,” he announced.
The crowd erupted into furious whispers.
My stomach twisted violently.
“That is not mine,” I said at once. “I’ve never seen that before.”
The healer refused to look at me.
“There are traces of wolfsbane mixed with royal sedative compounds,” he continued. “The same mixture found within Lady Lilian’s system.”
My pulse roared in my ears.
No. This was impossible.
“I didn’t do this,” I repeated, louder now. “Someone is framing me.”
Another elder spoke, his voice cold. “Your chambers were sealed under royal guard. Only you and your personal maid possessed unrestricted access.”
“Mira would never—”
The words died in my throat.
Mira.
My mind flashed back to her body collapsing against the wall, blood trickling from her temple.
This was planned. Every single part of it.
The elder continued before I could recover.
“Lady Lilian’s testimony also confirms repeated displays of jealousy regarding her pregnancy.”
Anger cut through my grief.
“I have no jealousy toward her,” I snapped. “She is carrying a child. I have a child too. Why would I harm her?”
A brief, heavy silence fell.
Then a voice rang out from the crowd.
“She killed her own son.”
My entire body froze. The room tilted violently.
“What?” I breathed.
Whispers exploded around me.
“She poisoned Kiran.”
“She killed her own heir.”
“She’s unstable.”
“She went mad after losing him.”
I shook my head violently as panic crashed over me.
“No,” I whispered brokenly. “No. My son died from illness.”
But even as I spoke, the memories clawed at me—the slow sickness, the coughing blood, the healers failing him one after another.
I was no longer just defending myself. I was defending the memory of my dead son.
The elder raised his hand again, demanding silence.
Then he delivered the words that shattered what little remained of me.
“The court finds sufficient evidence of conspiracy, poisoning, and attempted regicide against the Alpha’s heir.”
My breath vanished.
Regicide? Heir?
None of this made sense.
“I demand to speak to Knox,” I cried, turning desperately toward the throne. “He knows me. He knows I would never do this. Knox!”
Still nothing.
He did not move. Did not look at me.
As though I were a stranger standing trial for crimes committed in another lifetime.
The elder continued mercilessly.
“By unanimous decision of the Crescent Ridge Court, Ravienne Arden is hereby stripped of her Luna title.”
A sharp ringing filled my ears.
“Pending execution at dawn.”
The world stopped.
Execution. Dawn.
For one horrifying moment, I could not breathe. My mind refused to accept the words.
“No,” I whispered at last. The sound came out weak. Broken. Human.
“I have a daughter,” I said quickly, desperation surging through me. “Ashlyn is sick. Please. I need to see my daughter.”
A ripple moved through the courtroom. Some wolves looked away uncomfortably. Others watched with cold detachment.
The elder showed no emotion.
“Sentencing is final.”
My voice cracked completely.
“She’s alone,” I cried, stepping forward before a guard shoved me back harshly. “She’s dying. You can’t do this. Please, let me see her just once.”
My knees nearly buckled.
“Knox,” I whispered desperately, turning toward him one last time. “Please… say something.”
Still nothing.
Not even a glance.
That silence destroyed me more thoroughly than any sentence ever could.
Because it told me everything I needed to know.
He was not going to save me.
He wasn’t even going to look at me.
I slowly turned back toward the courtroom, my breathing ragged.
“You’re wrong,” I whispered softly. “All of you are wrong.”
No one answered.
The guards stepped forward. Chains rattled loudly in the silence as cold iron wrapped tightly around my wrists.
This time, I didn’t resist.
I couldn’t.
Something inside me had already gone numb.
They began dragging me back toward the massive doors. As I passed the benches, familiar faces stared back at me—wolves who once bowed, servants who once called me Luna, families I had protected. None of them spoke. None of them helped.
I looked back one final time before the doors closed.
Knox still hadn’t moved.
Not once.
Not for me.
The courtroom doors slammed shut behind me as the guards dragged me back into the endless cold corridors. Back into darkness. Back into the prison beneath the palace.
The moment the cell door locked behind me, my legs gave out.
I collapsed hard against the stone floor while broken gasps tore from my chest.
Dawn.
Execution.
Ashlyn.
I pressed both trembling hands over my mouth as the sob finally tore free.
But even then, through the grief tearing me apart from the inside, I forced myself to whisper into the empty darkness.
“I’m sorry,” I cried softly. “I’m so sorry, my baby.”
And for the first time since all of this began, there was no hope left inside me anymore.
Only the sound of iron locking my fate into place forever.
- Writer
