CHAPTER 49 – Fall of Lysandra

CHAPTER 49 – Fall of Lysandra
Calla’s POV

“You always thought you were better than me,” Lysandra said, her voice sharp and steady. “But look where your kindness has gotten you.”

I could not talk at first. My breath clogged in my throat while I gazed at Elara, who now rested against the trunk of a tree. Her hands were pressed tightly against her stomach, and there was blood seeping through her fingers. She was pale, but her eyes still shone with fire.

Raiden moved first. With a single, swift motion, he knocked Lysandra to the ground. Her dagger clanged against the earth beside her, and her head hit the ground with a resounding thud. I heard her gasp as Raiden pinned her arms behind her back.

"You are finished," he growled. "You will pay for every lie, every murder."

Lysandra just laughed.

I ran over to Elara's side and dropped to my knees. I shook and pressed down on the wound with my palms, trying to stop the bleeding. Her lips formed words, but I had to lean in close to hear them.

"Don't let her go," Elara barely whispered.

"I won't," I promised, swallowing a difficult ball in my throat.

Our fighters began to close in around us. A few were limping. Some were bleeding. They all looked at Lysandra with outraged, wide eyes. They had seen the treachery before their very eyes. She could no longer play with the facts. Her lies had dissipated in the intensity of war.

Raiden brought her up against him and trapped her arms at her back. "You deceived all of them. You drove them against Calla. You betrayed us from within."

Lysandra set her chin at a stubborn angle. "And yet, I almost succeeded."

I rose to my feet, my body shaking with anger and exhaustion. "Why? Why betray your kind?"

She looked into mine with disdain. "Because you weren't meant to be in control. You were weak. A child of fate, not a warrior. I should have been awarded it."

"You murdered for power," I said softly.

Lysandra's face contorted in acid laughter. "So did they. So did all the Alphas who ever existed. I just did it better."

Raiden shook his head. "You are not only a traitor. You worked for the Shadow King. You let him into our lands."

Lysandra didn't argue.

I felt the crowd sweeping in around us. Warriors, elders, even wounded soldiers—all silent, all listening.

"She used her position to turn our heads around," I said. "She poisoned the bond we shared."

"She killed Theo," Raiden added.

That name pierced deep. Theo had been a loyal warrior. A friend. And now he was dead, courtesy of the woman standing in front of us, still wearing the robes of a Luna.

Elara coughed behind me. I turned and knelt beside her once more. She opened her eyes, tired and weak. "Calla," she said, "the truth must be told."

I nodded and rose to my feet slowly.

"Take her to the circle," I said.

Raiden dragged Lysandra along and the warriors followed. Behind us, the temple was in ruins, but the earth still remembered. The holy circle still existed. A stone circle where lies could not be discerned. It had not been used in centuries, but today it would judge.

We were inside. Lysandra would not look at anyone.

I cried out. "By the law of Silver Moon, we require truth. Let her transgressions be revealed." 

An old one came forward. Elder Rowan, his robes in shreds, one arm wrapped. His eyes were tired, but unyielding. 

"I watched this girl grow," he said. "I trusted her. I was wrong."

He stood before the circle. "I passed judgment upon her deceptions. She employed her office to plant fear and falsehoods."

Another voice arose from the throng.

"She lied about Calla's bondmate," declared a young fighter. "She told us Raiden spurned her for ambition."

"She said Calla was cursed," another chimed in.

"She said our pack would die on her watch. "

"She said Calla was the enemy.".

Voices swelled one after another, like a rock wave. With every word, Lysandra's expression darkened.

I watched her intently.

Yet still, she did not beg.

Yet still, she did not weep.

Instead, she smiled again.

"You are all fools," she whispered.

Raiden gripped her arms tightly. "Speak louder."

She did.

"I told you what you needed to hear. You needed someone to blame when the world fell apart. You chose me to lead when you were scared. And I did it. I gave you an order. I gave you a future."

"You gave us death," I spoke sternly.

Lysandra stared at me with icy rage. "You should have stayed dead, Calla. The Shadow King was never going to win. He was only a means. I was the one who was supposed to rule."

Her confession hit like a stone in water.

The crowd remained silent.

I advanced another step. "Tell me you admit it. You manipulated the Shadow King's war to gain power."

"Yes," she snarled, "and I'd do it all again."

There was no longer doubt. No longer grey. Lysandra had betrayed the pack, betrayed her kind, for her hunger to lead.

The people parted as two warriors brought Elara forward. She was weak, barely awake, but her voice was fierce.

"In our history," she started, "those who betrayed their pack were banished forever. Not killed. Not spared. Marked. Banished."

Raiden looked at me. "The choice is yours."

I approached Lysandra and stared at her. "You will not die here. That would be too simple. You will live. But you will not live among us."

Her jaw clenched.

"You will bear the mark of your treachery," I said. "So every pack that encounters you will know what you are."

She smiled quietly. "You still have faith in mercy."

"No," I replied. "I have faith in justice.

Raiden held out the hot iron. Crescent-shaped, shattered. The symbol of banishment.

She flinched for the first time as the brand was branded into her skin. Her scream was drowned out by the trees.

When it was done, she collapsed to the ground, panting. The warriors retreated a step.

Elara dipped her head once. "She is no longer Luna. She is no longer the wolf of Silver Moon."

We turned back and left her there in the dirt.

Later, when the sun dipped below the trees, I stood beside Raiden on the ridge over the battlefield. The forest still smoldered in places. The temple still burned. But the war was over.

The Shadow King was defeated.

Lysandra was gone.

But the wounds were still open.

Raiden embraced me. "You did what had to be done."

"I know," I said quietly.

He twirled me around to look at him. "There is one thing more. The Whisper. She's still inside of you, isn't she?"

I nodded. "She's quiet now. But I can feel her. Watching. Waiting."

"Then we'll be ready."

I looked into his eyes and did not see uncertainty.

But before I could speak, the wind shifted.

There was a howl in the distance.

Raiden bristled.

"That is not one of my pack," he said.

Another howl rang out. And another. Then dozens.

And then hundreds.

A new army approached.

And this time, they were not zombies.

They were wolves.

Actual ones.

And they were not arriving peacefully.