The Great Hall of the Silver Moon was filled with a thick, suffocating tension.
Elara walked down the center aisle, her head bowed, playing the part of the sacrificial lamb. But her eyes, hidden behind a veil of messy hair, were scanning every exit, every guard, and the two figures standing directly behind Kaelen's throne.
To the left stood Ren, the Alpha's shadow. He was lean, silent, and dressed in dark tactical gear that blended into the stone pillars. He didn't look like a wolf; he looked like a scalpel. He didn't blink as Elara approached, his hand resting habitually on the hilt of a curved blade. He knows, Elara thought. He recognizes the way I step. I'm walking too balanced. She immediately forced a slight, uneven limp into her gait.
To the right was Sophia, a young woman with violet-tinted eyes and fingers stained with the colors of poisonous herbs. She was the pack's healer and poisoner, her life once saved by Kaelen on a battlefield. She was swirling a small vial of clear liquid, her gaze fixed on Elara with a cold, clinical hunger.
"The human has arrived," an elder announced, his voice echoing against the high arches.
Kaelen sat on his throne, looking bored, a half-smile on his lips. "Proceed. Let the Moonstone decide if she stays or feeds the crows."
At the center of the hall, resting on a pedestal of obsidian, was the Moonstone. It was a fist-sized gem that pulsed with an eerie, rhythmic silver light. It was beautiful, but to Elara, it was a ticking time bomb.
"Touch it," Sophia said, her voice like cracking ice. "If your soul is pure and your intentions are true, the stone will remain calm. If you carry darkness..." She let the sentence hang, her eyes flicking to the guards' sharpened spears.
Ren moved slightly, shifting his weight. To anyone else, it looked like a simple adjustment. To Elara, it was the start of a kill-strike. He was pre-calculating the trajectory to her heart.
Elara stepped forward. Her palms were sweating—this time, it wasn't an act. She had to suppress the "Ghost," the killer who had taken hundreds of lives. She had to find the girl who used to sing lullabies to her little sister in a cold, damp cellar.
She reached out. Her fingertips trembled.
Sister... think of the medicine. Think of the small, pale face waiting for me to come home.
As her skin touched the cold surface of the stone, a jolt of energy surged through her. The Moonstone flared. The silver light turned a violent, angry red for a fraction of a second.
The hall gasped. Ren's blade cleared its sheath by an inch. Sophia's eyes widened, her hand reaching for a pouch of paralyzing dust.
Kaelen leaned forward, his golden eyes narrowing.
In that heartbeat of certain death, Elara didn't fight back. She did the opposite. She let her knees buckle and collapsed, her hand still clutched around the stone, letting out a scream of pure, agonizing grief.
"It hurts!" she wailed, the sound raw and guttural. "It shows me the fire... the slavers... it's burning!"
The angry red light flickered and then, miraculously, softened into a warm, weeping gold—the color of sorrow. The stone wasn't sensing a killer; it was sensing a victim of unspeakable trauma. Or so it seemed.
Kaelen stood up, his heavy boots thumping on the stone as he descended the stairs. He pushed past the elders and stood over her.
"Enough," he barked.
Ren hissed low in his throat. "Alpha, the initial light was red. It sensed blood."
"It sensed the blood of her family being slaughtered, you fool," Kaelen snapped, though his eyes remained fixed on Elara. He reached down, his large hand wrapping around hers, pulling her away from the stone.
His touch was the only thing warmer than the gem. He leaned in, his voice a low vibration only she could hear. "That was a very close call, little bird. Next time, try not to bleed your secrets so loudly."
Elara looked up at him, her face tear-stained, pretending to be dazed. But behind his back, she saw Ren and Sophia exchanging a look of pure, unadulterated suspicion.
They didn't buy it.
Sophia stepped forward, her violet eyes gleaming. "Since she is so... affected by the stone, Alpha, perhaps she should stay in my laboratory for a few days? I have just the tonic to 'calm' her nerves."
Elara felt a chill go down her spine. The女巫 (witch) wanted to dissect her mind.
"No," Kaelen said, his grip on Elara's arm tightening. "She stays in my quarters. If she's going to scream in her sleep, I want to be the one to hear what she's saying."
He began to lead her out, leaving the elders and his two most trusted shadows in a cloud of doubt.
Ren watched them leave, his hand still on his blade. Her pulse never actually spiked during the 'pain', he thought, his eyes darkening. She's a better actor than the Alpha thinks.
And Sophia? she looked at the Moonstone, which was now slowly fading back to silver. The stone doesn't lie. It showed red because there is a killer in this room. And it isn't the Alpha.