Chapter 113 Freya's Confession

Chapter 113 Freya's Confession
Rune POV.

"Bring forward the second accused." Cassandra calls.

The arena settles into heavier silence as Freya is led in.

Head bowed. Shoulders slumped. Chains unnecessary because she's not resisting.

When she reaches the arena center, she kneels without being told.

"Freya of Ironfang." Logan begins. "You stand accused of—"

"I'm guilty." Freya interrupts quietly. "Of everything. Conspiracy. Attempted murder. Collaboration with Viktor."

The arena erupts in murmurs. Logan raises a hand for silence.

"You confess without hearing the charges read?"

"I know what I did. I helped poison the Luna. I conspired with Viktor. I betrayed my pack, my Alpha, and my Luna."

She finally looks up. Meets my eyes directly.

"I was jealous. Resentful of an Omega rising to Luna. Blind to real love because I'd never experienced it myself."

Her voice cracks. "My own mating was political arrangement. Practical. Loveless. When I saw what you and Logan have—that desperate, absolute devotion—I didn't recognize it as real. I told myself it was manipulation. Oracle magic corrupting his mind."

She looks at Logan now. "I convinced myself I was protecting you. Protecting the pack. But I was just... jealous. And blind. And wrong."

Pack members exchange glances.

"Viktor approached me six months ago. Showed me visions—false visions, I know now—of the Luna destroying the pack. Of you corrupted beyond saving. Of everything burning."

"Why did you believe him?" I ask quietly.

"Because my son was dying. Marcus has wasting disease. Healers couldn't help. I watched him fade for months, desperate and helpless. Then Viktor promised to cure him in exchange for my help."

Murmurs ripple through the arena.

"He said he needed information. Pack schedules, Luna's routines, nothing that seemed too damaging. Then he asked me to plant the poison. Said it would just make the Luna sick, not kill her. Prove she was unstable. Dangerous."

"You believed that?" Logan asks.

"I wanted to believe it. Because the alternative was watching my son die. So I told myself Viktor was right. That I was protecting everyone. That ends justified means."

She bows her head again. "But Viktor's 'cure' for Marcus was poison itself. Slow-acting. When I failed to kill the Luna, Viktor punished me by accelerating Marcus's poisoning. My son is dying right now because of my betrayal."

A healer stands from the crowd. "Freya's son Marcus is in healing chambers. Hours left, maybe less. The poison is beyond our capabilities."

Freya's composure cracks. Shoulders shake with sobs. "I don't ask mercy for myself. I deserve death. But please—please—if there's any way to save Marcus, I beg you. He knew nothing of my conspiracy. He's innocent."

Logan looks at me.

I don't know what to say. Freya tried to kill me. Helped Viktor. Deserves punishment.

But her son is innocent. Dying.

Cassandra stands. "The charges against Freya are identical to Lilith's. The evidence is her own confession. Pack law prescribes the same sentence: death."

"Agreed." Garrick adds from the allied Alpha section. "Precedent demands consistency."

The Elder Deltas confer longer this time. Debating. Arguing in low voices. Finally, they return.

"Freya of Ironfang—we find you guilty of treason. However. Given your immediate and full confession, your genuine remorse, and the mitigating circumstance of maternal desperation, we recommend mercy. Not freedom, but exile instead of death."

Pack members react. Some nod. Others shake heads.

Logan looks at me again.

I stand.