Chapter 205 205. Distant violence

Chapter 205 205. Distant violence
Camille

This wasn’t part of the plan.
That’s the first thought that keeps repeating in my head as the ground trembles faintly beneath my boots.
She called our allies, position them to attack when we were supposed to trade.
Leverage. Information for children. Pressure without bloodshed.
That was the agreement.
That was what I told myself when I agreed to this.
But the scent drifting through the high windows of our hall tells a different story.
Smoke.
Ash.
Distant violence.
I stand in the center of my grandmother’s strategy chamber as she finishes issuing orders to the last of the messengers. The stone walls around us hum with old magic, carved with ancestral markings that once dance around my head like the answer to all my childish fantasies.
Now they feel like a cage.
When the doors shut, I turn to her.
“You weren’t supposed to escalate this.”
Grandmother doesn’t look at me immediately. She adjusts the rings on her fingers, silver glinting in the torchlight.
“This was not an escalate,” she says calmly. “This was an advantage we could afford to pass up.”
My wolf snarls inside me.
She lies.
“You promised,” I press, stepping forward. “The children were leverage. We use them to force negotiation. That was the plan.”
Her gaze finally lifts to mine.
Cold.
Calculating.
“You had a half-formed idea, Camille,” she says lightly. “A boy’s outline of strategy.”
Heat floods my chest. “It was enough.”
“It was naïve.”
The word strikes harder than it should.
I clench my jaw. “Attacking Keith’s settlement wasn’t part of it.”
Her lips curve faintly. “It is now.”
My wolf lunges forward against my ribs.
She moved without us.
“You used my distraction,” I say, realization settling like poison in my veins. “While I focused on containing the hostages, you sent Solar Flare to the gates and unleashed Silver Fang at the south.”
She doesn’t deny it.
“I took advantage of momentum,” she replies. “You were dithering. Time is a resource, Camille.”
“They weren’t ready for war.”
“They don’t need to be ready,” she counters smoothly. “They need to be overwhelmed.”
My heart pounds.
“This is not how you defeat an enemy!”
“Do you think to school me now?” she says softly. “ What do you know of enemies? This is how you defeat them. You take their hope, you break down thoughts of rebellion, you give them a price too high to pay. That is how you acquire power.”
I stare at her.
“You told me we would control the situation.”
“We do control it.”
“No,” I snap. “You ignited it.”
Her expression hardens.
“You forget yourself.”
My wolf pushes forward, claws scraping against bone.
She undermines you again.
Again.
The word echoes.
Every time I think I’ve secured footing, she shifts the ground beneath me.
“You made me promise restraint,” she continues, stepping closer. “You wanted to play diplomat. Fine. I allowed it. But while you hesitated, Keith strengthened alliances. He grows more dangerous by the day.”
“So you thought war would fix that?”
“I thought decisive action would.”
My hands curl into fists.
“You risked everything.”
She tilts her head slightly. “No. I risked them.”
Keith’s settlement.
His wolves.
The children.
The word lodges in my throat.
“They were supposed to be bargaining chips,” I say again, quieter now. “Not casualties.”
She studies me carefully.
“You grow soft.”
My wolf roars.
We are not soft.
“I grow strategic,” I reply through clenched teeth. “Dead children offer no leverage.”
Her eyes flash.
“I have not killed them.”
Yet.
The unspoken word hangs heavy.
“But you’ve escalated,” I press. “Now if Keith retaliates fully—”
“He will,” she interrupts. “That is the point.”
Understanding slams into me.
“You want open conflict.”
“I want exposure,” she corrects. “When wolves are desperate, they reveal weaknesses.”
“And Solar Flare?”
She smiles faintly. “Bound. Along with the others.”
The collars.
Control mechanisms.
Insurance.
“You called them all,” I murmur.
“Compliance is such a flexible term. Easy too when you're practically handing victory to them.”
My wolf’s voice drops low and dangerous.
She uses everyone.
“And now,” she says, straightening her posture, “you will do your duty.”
My stomach tightens.
“Meaning?”
“You will extract the information we need from the prisoners. Keith’s defensive structures. His fallback points. His supply routes.”
I stare at her.
“There children.”
“You’ be surprised what children are capable of.”
The dig bites into my skin. I was fourteen when she approached me. Fate, she called it. An answer ro her prayers.
How foolish I was.
The tremor of distant battle vibrates faintly through the stone floor again.
She steps closer, lowering her voice.
“You want to prove you are worthy of this pack?” she asks. “Then show me you can make hard decisions. That when it comes down to it you will do what you must for your family.”
My wolf paces violently inside me.
This is wrong.
“You used my name to authorize this,” I say.
“Of course I did,” she replies smoothly. “You are my heir.”
Heir.
The word feels like a chain.
“You cornered me.”
“I elevated you.”
Rage flashes white behind my eyes.
“You betrayed me.”
For the first time, something flickers in her expression.
Then it’s gone.
“I adapted.”
Silence stretches between us.
Finally, she turns toward the door.
“Do not disappoint me, Camille,” she says without looking back. “The lower chamber awaits.”
Lower chamber?
There is no lower chamber.
I’ve walked this hall my entire life.
There is no—
The doors open.
She exits without another word.
The echo of her steps fades.
For a long moment, I just stand there.
Still.
Breathing.
Trying to reconcile the war outside with the war inside this room.
Mira’s scent reaches me before her voice does.
“You’re shaking.”
I hadn’t realized.
She steps from the shadow near the pillar, dark hair pulled back, eyes blazing.
She glances down at the door, trepidation and disgust filling her eyes.
“She will change you if you let her. Nothing good comes from down there,” Mira says.
“I know.”
“You’re supposed to lead. Be a Leader, Camille.”
“I am trying.”
My wolf turns toward her presence, unsettled but not hostile.
Mira smells of storm.
“We’ll try harder. Put up a fight. She used you,” Mira continues. “Again.”
I drag a hand through my hair. “She believes she’s protecting the pack.”
“She’s protecting her control.”
“That’s the same thing to her.”
Mira steps closer. “And to you? What does it mean to you?”
The question slices.
I don’t answer immediately.
Mira’s gaze sharpens. “An Alpha defends his people.”
“And you think I’m not?” I snap.
She doesn’t flinch.
“I think you’re hesitating.”
My wolf growls softly.
She pushes you.
“If I back out now,” I say, voice low, “what do I have?”
The words taste bitter.
Mira’s expression shifts.
“You have yourself.”
“Do I?” I ask harshly. “Because if I defy her now, she strips me of rank. Of authority. Of everything I’ve built.”
“You built it on her foundation, but it is yours by birthright. You can take it or you can walk away.”
“And if I walk away?” I demand. “What then? I become what—an exile? A cautionary tale?”
“Better that than her shadow.”
Anger flares.
“You think it’s that simple?”
“No,” she says immediately. “I think it’s hard. I think it’s terrifying. But this—” She gestures toward the floor, toward the hidden chamber I still can’t see. “This is worse.”
I step away from her.
“You don’t understand.”
Here, voice arches like a whip. “No, you don’t. You think it’s bad now…the things she’ll have you do, they will stain you forever.”
“I’m already tainted.”
“Bullshit.”
My wolf presses forward, voice rough. Tell her the truth.
“I can’t undo what’s already started,” I say instead. “The attack is in motion. The alliances are engaged. If I fracture from her now, we splinter internally while fighting externally.”
Mira’s eyes glisten faintly.
“So you’re going to interrogate children.”
“They have information we need.”
“At what cost?”
The question lands heavily.
I turn on her.
“What would you have me do? Storm out? Challenge her publicly? Split the pack while Silver Fang and the Lotus settlement tear at each other?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t have a choice.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
Silence crashes between us.
Her voice softens.
“Camille… you’re not her.”
I laugh bitterly. “I’m starting to wonder.”
She steps closer.
“If you cross this line—”
“I’ve crossed worse.”
“Not like this.”
My wolf hesitates.
This path smells of blood.
I look at her.
“Will you leave me too?”
The question escapes before I can stop it.
It hangs between us, raw and ugly.
Mira’s face tightens.
“I haven’t left.”
“Not yet.”
Her jaw sets.
“If you become what she is,” she says quietly, “I won’t follow you there.”
There it is.
The fracture line.
“Will you leave me?” I press.
She shakes her head slowly.
“No.”
Relief flickers—
Then she finishes.
“I’ll make you live long enough to remember what you’ve done.”
The words hit harder than any threat.
My wolf recoils.
She means it.
Time is slipping.
Duty claws at me.
If I don’t go down there, someone else will.
Someone crueler.
My wolf goes still.
If it must be done… better our hand than hers.
That thought sickens me.
But it’s true.
I meet Mira’s eyes.
“I can control the damage,” I say, though I’m not sure if I believe it.
She studies me for a long moment.
Then steps aside.
“Then go,” she says quietly. “And decide who you are.”
I nod once.
My legs feel heavy as I cross the chamber toward the far wall.
There is no visible door.
But when I press my palm against the carved sigil of our lineage, the stone shifts.
A seam appears.
Hidden.
A narrow staircase spirals downward into darkness.
Cold air rises from below.
I didn’t know this existed.
My grandmother did.
Of course she did.
I descend.
Each step echoes. The air grows damp, thick. I feel Mira behind me, ready to be a witness to the consequences of my action.
When I enter, I’m unsurprised to find my grandmother sitting surrounded by various warriors and her personal attendants. She stares across the room where the pups and juveniles stand chained.
My wolf bristles, unsettled.
This place is wrong.
I step into view.
Several heads lift.
“Now that everyone is here, it’s time to fulfill your purpose, Sky.”
He doesn’t move, doesn’t flinch at the fate that awaits him.
My grandmother nods, and four guards move across the room, two grab Sky, forcing him forward, and the other two grab the girl with the mismatched eyes.
“What the hell are you playing at?” Sky says to grandmother, the first words he’s spoken to her.
“Come now, Sky, you should know how much I loathe wasting my time.” She stands and walks toward him. “You were always hard to break, that’s what made you so fun. But today is about results, I’m afraid.” She turns to the girl, “Let’s see how far that spirit gets you.”
What?
“Camille, you’ll take over.” Grandmother looks at me challenge in her eyes. “Don’t stop until you have answers.”
“Don’t touch her,” one of the males yells, charging at them and more guards go to restrain him.
The other juveniles start to struggle and have to be held back.
“Enough. Or we’ll replace her with one of the pups,” Grandmother says without emotion.
My stomach turns.
I know she would.
“It’s okay,” the girl says to the others, settling them before looking at Sky. “We are pack.”
It’s said as a statement.
But there is something else underneath her words.
Grandmother takes her seat, like shes preparing to watch a show. “Camille…”
I look at Mira, her eyes begging me not to do it.
I steal myself, turn.
The girls mismatched eyes are furious but beneath them is fear.
I unseath my claws. “Where is the heart of Atheren?”