Chapter 173 CHAPTER 173
The council chamber in Mooncrest carried an unusual weight that morning, though nothing about its structure had changed.
When the doors opened and Ethan entered, Lisa walking beside him, the elders rose immediately in respect. Lora’s face brightened, and she inclined her head warmly.
“Your Majesty,” she said, her voice carrying genuine affection, “we did not expect you back so soon. I hope Red Valley welcomed you kindly. Princess, how did you find it?”
Lisa offered a small, polite nod, but Ethan’s expression did not match the warmth in the greeting. He acknowledged Lora with a brief incline of his head before answering.
“That is exactly why we are here,” he said evenly. “We had to cut our trip short.”
Rufus’s brows drew together slightly. “Is something wrong at Red Valley?”
“Yes,” Ethan replied, stepping further into the chamber. “Something came to light that cannot wait. It concerns all of us.”
The elders resumed their seats at his gesture. Lisa took her place beside Ethan, her posture composed though her eyes held quiet strain.
Vaughn watched carefully from across the table, his pulse steadying only through discipline. When Ethan mentioned something coming to light, Vaughn’s mind immediately raced toward his own recent actions. He had met privately with certain voices in the pack while the king was away, discussing concerns about leadership and direction. He had convinced himself it was precaution, not betrayal. Still, if Ethan had learned of it, the consequences would be severe.
Ethan did not sit immediately. He rested his hands lightly on the back of his chair and let his gaze sweep across the elders before speaking again.
“There are matters that have been hidden from me,” he said calmly, though the calm felt deliberate rather than casual. “And I am done ruling without knowing the full truth of my own kingdom.”
Kellan shifted slightly, attentive. Thorne’s eyes lowered in quiet awareness. Gregor’s quill hovered above parchment, waiting.
“If anyone believes there is something I should know,” Ethan continued, “this would be the time to speak freely.”
The chamber remained quiet, not out of defiance but uncertainty. Vaughn felt tension tighten in his chest, though he kept his expression measured.
Ethan finally took his seat.
“I need the truth about what happened seventeen years ago,” he said clearly. “And I need to know who took it upon themselves to make sure I forgot.”
The words landed heavily, though no one reacted outwardly in a dramatic fashion. Lora’s fingers tightened slightly over one another, and Rufus’s posture stiffened as if bracing for something long postponed.
Lisa spoke then, her voice steady but unmistakably affected.
“We know the witch who destroyed Mooncrest was our mother’s friend.”
That statement shifted the atmosphere more than any accusation could have.
Kellan exhaled slowly before answering. “Yes,” he said. “That is true.”
Vaughn felt relief spread quietly through him as he realized the subject had nothing to do with his secret meeting. He kept his composure, folding his hands loosely on the table, though inside his thoughts recalibrated.
Ethan leaned forward slightly. “How long were they friends?”
“For several months,” Lora replied. “Queen Helena believed coexistence between wolves and witches was possible. She believed trust could build peace.”
Rufus answered carefully. “The witch grew close to one of our soldiers. At first, it appeared mutual. Over time, it became clear that enchantment was involved.”
“He was bewitched,” Kellan added. “We separated him from her when we realized something was wrong.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “And what happened to him?”
“We tried to heal him,” Lora said gently. “But the spell had drained him too deeply. He did not recover.”
“He died,” Rufus finished.
Silence settled over the table, though it was not explosive or theatrical. It was the silence of realization.
“Seraphine believed we killed him,” Kellan continued. “Whether she loved him or merely felt possession over him, she saw his death as betrayal.”
“And she retaliated,” Ethan said quietly.
“Yes,” Rufus confirmed. “She gathered other witches. She returned with fire.”
Lisa’s hands rested tightly in her lap, her thoughts racing between what she had seen at the tree and what she was hearing now.
“Why did she abduct my mother and I?” Lisa said softly.
“She claimed Queen Helena betrayed her,” Lora replied. “She said Helena allowed her lover to be taken.”
Ethan inhaled slowly. “And my father?”
“He tried to stop her,” Kellan answered. “You were there.”
Fragments flickered in Ethan’s mind, indistinct but heavy. “I remember fire,” he said. “I remember her face. I remember my father falling.”
“You saw her kill him,” Rufus said plainly.
Ethan’s expression hardened, though his voice remained controlled. “Then explain something to me. Why do I remember her only as a monster? Why do I not remember knowing her before that night?”
The elders exchanged glances that carried the weight of shared responsibility.
Lora spoke first. “After the fire, you were not well.”
“You had nightmares,” Rufus added. “You refused food. You woke shouting her name.”
“You could not reconcile the woman you had known with the one who destroyed your home,” Kellan continued. “The conflict was breaking you.”
Ethan looked at them steadily. “So you decided to remove the conflict.”
“We believed we were protecting you,” Lora said. “We did not erase the event. We erased the familiarity. The emotional connection. We believed if you remembered her only as an enemy, you would heal.”
“You brought someone to alter my memory,” Ethan stated.
“Yes,” Kellan admitted quietly.
“And you decided I was incapable of processing my own trauma,” Ethan said, his tone calm but edged with something wounded.
Thorne finally spoke, his voice careful. “You were barely holding on. We feared losing you.”
Lisa listened in silence, feeling the ground shift beneath everything she thought she understood. Their mother had chosen trust. The witch had chosen vengeance. The elders had chosen protection. And somewhere between all of that, the truth had been edited.
Ethan rose slowly from his seat.
“I was young,” he said. “But I was not yours to reshape.”
No one challenged him.
“I cannot lead a kingdom if pieces of my past are curated for me,” he continued. “If there are decisions to be made about this kingdom, they will not be made behind my back. Not about its history. Not about my mind.”
Gregor’s quill moved steadily across parchment as he recorded the moment.
Lora’s voice softened. “We never meant to deceive you.”
Ethan remained quiet.
The rest of the chamber remained quiet in heavy reflection. The truth had been spoken, and it had not brought relief. It had complicated everything. Ethan understood now that leadership was not only about strength in battle or wisdom in policy. It required confronting the people who believed they had protected him by taking choice away from him.
Lisa rose beside him, her expression thoughtful but shaken. She had come seeking answers. She had found them. Yet instead of clarity, she felt the weight of a past that was more tangled than she had imagined.
And as Ethan looked across the council table at the elders who had shaped his childhood in ways he had never known, he wondered what more of his story they were keeping from him.