⋆ Chapter 194

⋆ Chapter 194
The large wooden door at the side of the chamber creaked open. Six figures entered—three men and three women. All of them older. All of them with the same regal posture and silver-toned clothing that announced rank. Their gazes swept the room once before they settled on me.
And what I saw in their eyes wasn’t just judgment. It was loathing. Like I’d dirtied the very ground by standing here. Like my presence was an insult to the air they breathed.
I held their gaze anyway. 
The Elders of Silver Moon took their seats, arranged in an arc just a few feet in front of me, for the world to witness.
The Lupus Chair's voice echoed through the hall as he called on their names, “Elder Bethesda. Elder Taryn. Elder Aina.”
The three nodded in perfect sync, tilting their heads ever so slightly.
The Chair continued, “Elder Thorne. Elder Colin. Elder Damir.”
The final three followed suit, silent and composed, statues draped in tradition and judgment.
Then the Chair’s voice cut straight to me. “Matilda Parker.”
I heard my name echo across the hall, and for a moment, all I could focus on was the weight of it—how it sounded here, in this grand, solemn place, as if it didn’t belong to the girl who used to drink on the office rooftop, who laughed too loud, and who didn’t give a damn about much.
“...You may now present your proofs. Do you have any documents to share with this Council?”
“You mean… papers?” I asked, my voice catching slightly. My fingers moved unconsciously to the bracelet on my wrist.
A few of the Elders chuckled, soft but unmistakably mocking.
I looked up and found Cillian. He wasn’t laughing. There was murder in his stillness. His eyes were locked on the Elders like he was already deciding which vein to drain first.
Then he turned, and his gaze found mine. Instantly, something in him shifted. The violence faded, if only a little. His eyes softened, just for me, like I was the only thing tethering him to restraint. No words were needed. I felt it in my chest, a quiet, fierce promise: they touch you, and I end them.
I pulled in a breath and felt it settle in my ribs. Then I turned back to the Elders, spine straightening, glare sharp enough.
“No,” I said, turning back to the Chair, my voice steadier now. “But I have names.”
Silence fell immediately.
“There were wolves who were meant to return,” I said. “Wolves ready to serve again. They were supposed to be reborn through humans bonded to lycans... like what I was to Xavier.”
I paused. Then a murmur rippled through the hall. Heads began to turn, not toward me, but toward the Elders. And this time, the looks weren't reverent. They were questioning, even hostile.
“But the humans were killed,” I continued. “Before the bond could ever take root. Before the wolves ever had a chance to return.”
Silence fell like a hammer. I didn’t let it stop me. I took another breath, steady and strong.
“I met them,” I said. “With Luna Astria’s help, I crossed into the in-between, beyond this world. And I saw them with my own eyes.”
Then I began to name them. Each one clear. Each one like a bell tolling through the room.
“Mira, who was fated to Lisa.
Lyra, to Beth.
Sunna, to Aurora.
Eros, to Eric.
Izar, to Lucas.
Elio, to Arthur.
And Orion… to Patrick.”
Their names hung in the air, heavy with grief and truth. And still, the room said nothing, but it listened.
And soon the tide had begun to turn, and I watched it happen—the subtle shift in posture, the startled gasps, the way some in the Homō and Lupus sections looked at one another, recognition dawning. They knew the names. They knew the humans. Some looked stricken. Others looked furious.
But I wasn’t done.
“And I…” I paused for a second, meeting the gaze of the Vampir chair, then the Lupus one, then finally Cillian’s. “As Xavier’s human mate, I was fated to Tala.”
The murmur that followed turned quickly into an uproar. Voices rose, some in disbelief, others in outrage. The human council chair tried to restore order with her gavel, but it was drowned out by dozens of overlapping reactions.
The names carried weight.
Another voice rose from the crowd—urgent, trembling.
“My sister knew Lucas! We always knew he was mated to a lycan. He’s been missing for ten years!”
Gasps followed, quick and scattered like the crackle before a fire catches.
“I met Tala,” I pressed on, no longer bothering to hide the emotion in my voice. “And I met the others. The wolves who had been waiting. They never got their chance. Their bonds were severed before they even began—because the humans meant for them were hunted down. Murdered.”
Then I turned and fixed my gaze on the six Elders. Each one stiffened. No more passive masks.
“And those responsible… are sitting right there,” I added.
“Is this true?!”Someone shouted from the back, loud and furious.
Another voice cut through, older, trembling with disbelief. “Patrick disappeared the same year they raided Hollow Glen. My brother... he was on that list.”
A woman near the aisle stood up, clutching her chest. “Aurora was my niece! She started seeing a lycan boy before she vanished. They said she ran away. She never would’ve run.”
The voices became shouts, and the room started to tilt so much that the council called for order.
The vampire chair stood, his voice impossibly calm. “This hearing will not descend into uproar. Let the witness finish.”
I stared at the Elders. Gone were their looks of superiority and disdain. Now, they looked at me like they were actually seeing me—not as some fragile human girl who didn’t belong in their world, but as someone who had stood among gods and remembered every name of the fallen.
Good. They should see me now.
I didn’t need to shift. I didn’t need claws or teeth. I had the names. I had the truth. And for once, that was enough to make them afraid.