The Moment After
The chamber was so still that Lena could hear her own heart thundering in her chest. Sparks from the crown of fire drifted through the air like falling stars, settling on the stone floor and burning tiny holes where they touched.
Every eye was on her.
Dominic’s, wide with protective rage.
Kael’s, dark and gleaming with hunger.
The Council’s, heavy with terror, awe, and calculation.
The silence pressed down like a storm.
Then—clang.
A guard’s shackles slipped from his trembling hands, the iron ringing sharp against the stone.
The sound cracked the silence like lightning.
“Blasphemy,” hissed Alpha Neryssa of Moonfall, rising with a face carved from fury. “This power is not hers to command. It belongs to the Council!”
But even her voice faltered when Lena’s crown f
