A silence deeper than any cavern descended upon the Great Hall. It was the silence of a thousand wolves holding their breath at once. My words, “High Treason,” hung in the blood-red air, a blade pressed against the throat of the pack’s most sacred law.
Kaelen’s face, which had been a mask of regal sorrow, fractured. For a heartbeat, pure, unadulterated shock shone through, followed swiftly by a sneer of contempt. He actually laughed, a short, barking sound that held no warmth.
“Treason?” he scoffed, his voice dripping with condescension. “The ravings of a desperate, broken mind. You have no standing to make such a claim, and you have no evidence.”
“Don’t I?” I met his gaze, my own voice a shard of ice. I no longer saw the wolf I had loved; I saw only a king perched on a throne of lies.
