Chapter 38 038

Chapter 38 038

Ria's POV

After breakfast, it did not take long and almost everyone had assembled at the large courtroom.

The courtroom felt smaller today, like the walls had shifted closer during the night, Or maybe it was just me, shrinking under the weight of all those eyes.

I stood in the center with my hands clasped in front of me, trying to keep them from shaking. The three Alphas sat on their thrones above me, elevated like gods passing judgment on mortals.

Dante lounged to the left, looking bored. Lucien sat rigid in the middle, his face carved from stone. And Silas leaned back on the right with that infuriating smirk playing at his lips.

The crowd pressed in from all sides. Wolves from the entire pack, their scents mingling together. I recognized some faces, Tracy stood near the front, her arms crossed and her expression smug. A few warriors I had trained with. Some of the kitchen staff who used to whisper when I walked past.

They were all here to watch me fail.

Silas stepped forward, his white robes sweeping the floor behind him. He held a scroll in his gnarled hands, the parchment yellowed with age. When he unrolled it, the sound crackled through the silence like breaking bones.

"The final trial," he announced, his voice echoing to every corner of the room, "has been decided by the council of Elders and approved by the three Alphas."

The words should have brought relief, but instead they felt like a noose tightening but I remained calm with both my hands clasped together.

Silas cleared his throat and began to read. "Ria of the Shadowmoon Pack will journey to the Ancient Garden to retrieve the Silver Flower."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

My eyes scan around as I try to understand what they were saying, Ancient Garden?

I had heard whispers of it before, stories told in hushed voices around campfires. A place where plants grew wild and deadly, where the ground itself was said to be poisoned, Most wolves believed it was just a myth, something to scare pups into behaving.

But my father once told me about it when he was alive, that it was a special garden where deadly weapons used against our enemies were created.

And if you are not familiar with the place, You could never walk in and survive because even the air there too is poisonous.

"She cannot survive that," someone muttered behind me.

"They are sending her to die," another voice added.

More whispers broke out, spreading like wildfire. I caught fragments of conversations, each one worse than the last.

"My grandfather said his brother went there once. They found his body three days later, black as coal."

"The flowers there are cursed."

"Even touching the soil will kill you."

My pulse kept pounding in my ears. I forced myself to look up at the Alphas, searching for something. A hint that this was a joke, A sign that they would change their minds.

But Dante just examined his nails while Silas maintained his usual blank expression And Lucien stared straight through me like I was already a ghost.

Then I caught movement to my left. Anna stood near the edge of the crowd, her face pale and her hands pressed to her mouth. Our eyes met for a split second before I jerked my gaze away.

I could not afford to think about her right now. Dante rose from his throne, pulling something from beneath his seat. A vial. Small and made of dark glass that seemed to swallow the light around it.

He descended the steps slowly, until he stood directly in front of me. Up close, I could see the golden flecks in his amber eyes. Could smell the faint scent of pine and smoke that clung to him.

He held out the vial. "This will protect you."

I took it with trembling fingers. The glass was cold, almost burning against my skin. "Protect me how?"

"The Ancient Garden is filled with toxins. Plants that release spores into the air. Thorns coated in venom. Soil that seeps poison through your boots." He spoke matter-of-factly, like he was describing the weather. "This antidote will keep you alive. For a short time."

"For a short time?" My voice came out smaller than I wanted while I repeated his words.

"Yes, you don't have much time when in the ancient garden" He stepped back. "The protection will fade after a while. Maybe an hour. Maybe less, depending on how much poison you are exposed to."

Lucien stood next, His eyes were sharp and dark, nothing like the way he had touched me that night in his chambers. When he spoke, his voice empty.

"You need to be fast, Find the Silver Flower and get out before the antidote wears off."

I stared at him, waiting for something. Anything at all aside from this. A flicker of the man who had kissed me like I was the only thing keeping him alive. The man who had whispered my name in the dark like a prayer.

But there was nothing. Just cold indifference.

"How will I know what the Silver Flower looks like?" I asked, directing the question to all three of them. "I have never seen it. Never even heard of it before today."

Dante shrugged. "That is for you to figure out."

"You expect me to wander through a poisoned garden, searching for a flower I cannot identify, with limited protection and no guidance?" My hands clenched into fists at my sides. "You are sending me to die."

"We are giving you a chance to prove yourself," Silas said, finally speaking up. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Whether you take that chance or waste it is entirely up to you."

I wanted to scream, I badly wanted to throw the vial at their feet and tell them to go to hell. But that would only confirm what they already believed, that I was weak and Unworthy of being regarded as their Luna.

So I swallowed the anger and the fear, burying it deep where no one could see.

Lucien rose again, towering over me from the top of the steps. When he spoke, each word felt like a blade.

"You have three hours. If you are not back by then, the trial ends." He paused. "And we will send men to retrieve your body for burial."

The courtroom went silent. Even the whispers died.

Three hours. That was all the time I had left to live.

I searched Lucien's face for something, anything that looked like regret or hesitation. But his expression remained blank. Was this really the same man who had held me? Who had looked at me like I mattered?

Maybe that night had meant nothing to him, Maybe I was just another distraction, something to occupy his time before he went back to Tracy and forgot I existed.

The thought burned worse than any poison.

The crowd began to shift, people moving toward the exits. Some shot me pitying looks as they passed. Others smirked, already placing bets on how long I would last. Tracy walked by with her chin high and her lips curved in satisfaction.

Anna tried to push through the mass of bodies toward me, but someone blocked her path. She mouthed something I could not make out before the crowd swallowed her completely.

Within minutes, the courtroom had emptied. Only a handful of people remained, mostly guards stationed at the doors. The three Alphas still sat on their thrones, watching me like I was a bug under glass.

I clutched the vial tighter, feeling the cold down my spine.

They were not testing me, They were executing me, perhaps they already figured out a way to get rid of the mate bond And this was their way of doing it.

But I would be damned if I made it easy for them.