Chapter 13 : Council of Traitors
1134 Words
The forest air was sharp with frost, a warning that something darker than winter stirred within the heart of the Northern Pines.
At the edge of a cliff cloaked in mist, twelve cloaked figures gathered in a stone circle worn by centuries of blood and betrayal. Their hoods were drawn low, but their scents—musky fur, silver smoke, and dried herbs—told stories older than any crown.
The Circle of Elders had been disbanded years ago… but treason never needed permission to fester.
“Lucien has returned,” spoke a low voice from the head of the circle. Elder Kaelen, former Beta to Lucien’s father, stepped into the faint moonlight, his silver mane catching the glow. “And he brings the girl.”
A murmur rippled through the circle.
“The Moonblood,” another hissed. “She survived the Binding.”
Kaelen’s lip curled in disdain. “More than survived. She commands fire. Fire that answers only to Aveline’s bloodline.”
“She’s dangerous.”
“No,” Kaelen corrected. “She’s useful. For now.”
Elder Thorne, a grizzled man with one eye and the smell of decaying pine bark, slammed a fist to the stones. “We should strike now, before Lucien strengthens his hold!”
“And do what?” sneered Kaelen. “Challenge a bonded Lycan King with Moonblood at his side? You’d be ash before your wolf could blink.”
The circle fell into tense silence.
Then a voice from the shadows spoke, soft and smooth like oiled silk.
“We wait.”
All heads turned as a tall woman stepped from the trees, her eyes glowing faint gold.
Lady Calista.
Once a rival Alpha's daughter, now exiled and thought dead, she had clawed her way back from obscurity, dripping with venom and ambition.
“He’s building an army,” she said calmly. “Not just the pack loyal to him—others are drawn to her. The Moonblood. The outcasts. The untamed. Even the witches have begun whispering her name again.”
“She’s no queen,” Thorne spat.
“She doesn’t need to be,” Calista replied. “She just has to make him stronger.”
Kaelen scowled. “So what’s your plan?”
Calista smiled. “We pull out the roots. Undermine the pack from within. And if that fails…” She reached into her cloak and tossed something onto the stone.
A pendant.
Still glowing with residual magic. Still warm.
Serena’s.
Gasps hissed through the circle.
“Where did you get that?” Kaelen growled
“She dropped it at the ruins,” Calista purred. “And I’ve had eyes on her ever since.”
A silence more dangerous than a howl settled between them.
“Bring her to me,” Kaelen finally said. “Alive. She will lure him to ruin.”
“And the girl?” asked Thorne.
Calista smiled again, lips blood-red in the moonlight.
“I’ll peel the fire from her bones myself.”
---
Meanwhile, back in Lucien’s fortress…
The fortress of Ellador was slowly coming back to life, its once-ruined halls echoing with footsteps again. Warriors trained in the yard. Scouts came and went at dawn and dusk. The scent of magic still lingered, but it was fading as Serena’s growing control tempered the raw flame.
Serena stood on the balcony outside Lucien’s war room, watching as Kael trained new warriors in the yard below. Despite his defiance, he’d fallen in line—for now.
But it was the wind that made her frown.
It smelled of smoke.
And betrayal.
Lucien joined her, arms around her waist, pulling her to his chest.
“You’re tense.”
“I dreamt of the ruins again,” she whispered. “And of him.”
“The creature?” Lucien asked.
She nodded. “He said the real threat is still asleep. That the bond between us is... dangerous.”
Lucien’s jaw tightened. “Dangerous to them, maybe.”
“No. To me. If you die... I go with you.”
Lucien turned her to face him. “Then I won’t die.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“Yes, I can,” he growled. “Because I’ve already died once. When you rejected me. I won’t survive it a second time.”
Serena touched his chest, feeling the beat of his heart beneath her palm. “Then we stay together. No matter what.”
Lucien bent down, lips brushing hers. “Always.”
Before they could kiss, the door burst open.
Nyra, breathless, eyes wide. “You need to see this.”
---
In the war room…
The map of Ellador had changed.
A red flag burned at its northern edge—borderland territory.
“A village was attacked last night,” Nyra reported. “Not by rogues. Not by beasts. Trained Lycans. And one witch.”
Lucien growled. “A witch?”
“She carved Moonblood runes into the ground and burned their Alpha’s name into the trees.”
Serena stepped forward. “What name?”
Nyra swallowed. “Yours.”
Lucien’s eyes went silver. “This is a message.”
Jace appeared from the corridor. “There’s more. We caught a scout watching the fortress. She had this.”
He threw a cloak onto the table.
Inside it—Serena’s pendant.
Lucien stiffened. Serena reached for it with shaking hands.
“I lost this in the ruins,” she whispered.
“Someone’s been close. Too close,” Lucien said darkly.
Nyra glanced between them. “This is war.”
Serena shook her head. “No. This is bait.”
“They want me,” Lucien said. “They want you.”
“And they won’t stop,” Serena whispered. “Until we stop them first.”
Lucien nodded slowly. “Then we strike.”
---
That night…
Kael found Serena in the courtyard, arms crossed as she watched the stars.
“You think he’s ready for this?” Kael asked.
“Lucien?” she glanced at him. “He’s always been ready. The rest of us… we’re catching up.”
Kael laughed quietly. “He’s changed,Since he met you ”
“And you haven’t?” she asked.
Kael looked away. “You still trust me?”
Serena studied him. “I don’t know. But I want to.”
He looked at her, jaw clenching. “Then don’t die. I don’t think he’d survive it. And if he falls… so does this entire kingdom.”
She nodded. “Then we both better live.”
---
Far away, in a temple buried in ice…
A girl awoke.
White hair. Pale skin. Eyes like mirrors.
A servant knelt before her. “The Moonblood has returned.”
The girl rose.
“No,” she said.
“She never left.”
---
- Writer
