Chapter 161 Chapter 161

Chapter 161 Chapter 161
Taylor's POV

The council chamber buzzed with tension as the Alpha King took his place at the front.

He was still visibly weakened from his accident but standing on his own, refusing the wheelchair his healers had insisted on.

"Today we address a matter of significant weight," he said, his voice steady despite his condition.

"The ancient statute barring the original bloodline from mating into the ruling family. I intend to present evidence that this law was never what generations believed it to be."

Councilor Aldous rose immediately, his face tight with barely contained anger.

"This law has protected our covenant for centuries," he said.

"I would caution against dismissing tradition based on convenient timing."

"Convenient timing works both ways," Hunter opined, standing to address the chamber directly. "If the timing seems suspicious, Councilor, perhaps you should consider why you've fought so hard to enforce a law nobody bothered examining closely until now."

Maria stepped forward with her documentation, laying out everything methodically.

The original ledger entries and the timeline connecting the law's creation to a blocked marriage centuries earlier.

The complete absence of any genuine historical incident justifying the law as covenant protection.

The chamber grew quiet as she spoke, elders leaning forward, murmurs rippling through the gathered council members as the evidence mounted higher.

"This is fabrication," Aldous exclaimed, though his voice had lost some of its earlier certainty.

"Circumstantial connections drawn from incomplete records."

"Councilor," Maria countered calmly, pulling up one final document,

"Would you care to explain your own family's direct lineage to the council member who blocked that marriage and then wrote this law into permanent statute less than a week later?"

The room went dead silent.

Aldous's face change color. "That has nothing to do with the legitimacy of the law itself," he said, though his voice had grown noticeably tighter.

"It has everything to do with motive," Asher said, standing beside Hunter now, both brothers united in front of the entire council.

"You've spent this entire process insisting on tradition and protection. Perhaps the truth is simpler admitting this law is fabricated exposes your own family's founding scandal."

Aldous said nothing, his silence more damning than any argument could have been.

The Alpha King spoke again, his voice carrying clearly through the tense chamber.

"I call for a vote," he announced.

"To formally overturn this statute, recognizing it for what the evidence clearly shows it to be. Fabricated law, disguised as protective tradition for generations."

The vote proceeded slowly, each council member speaking their decision aloud.

Some hesitated, clearly torn between old loyalty to tradition and the undeniable weight of evidence before them.

But one by one, the votes fell in favor of overturning the law, the weight of truth finally outmatching decades of assumed legitimacy.

When the final count came in, overwhelming in favor, the chamber erupted into murmurs and applause, relief flooding through me so completely I nearly collapsed against my chair.

"The statute is overturned," the Alpha King declared, his voice tired but satisfied.

"Effective immediately."

Asher pulled me into his arms the second the announcement finished, both of us laughing through tears.

Hunter smiled warmly beside us, genuine happiness for both of us evident on his face despite everything the moment cost him personally.

"We did it," Asher said, holding me tight. "Taylor, we actually did it."

"Thank you," I said, looking between him and Hunter both. "For fighting for this. For me."

"As always," Hunter said simply.



The celebration afterward felt like the first genuinely joyful moment this entire exhausting year had offered.

Guests gathered in the palace hall, Mom finally strong enough to attend.

Dad stood proudly beside her, both of them watching Asher and I with matching expressions of relief and happiness.

Willow and several members of the silent bloodline came too, celebrating alongside everyone else, no longer needing to hide in shadows or behind carefully guarded secrets.

I stood near the edge of the celebration for a moment, catching my breath, watching everyone I loved gathered together in genuine joy for what felt like the first time in longer than I could remember.

Maria approached quietly and her expression carefully composed despite something clearly weighing on her.

"I have an update," she announced. "About the woman Ramon mentioned."

My stomach tightened instantly, the joy of the moment dimming slightly under the weight of what I already suspected was coming.

"Tell me," I said.

"We finally cracked one of the encrypted accounts linked to the payments," Maria said.

"Cross referenced against everything we've gathered this past year. I have a name now, Taylor. Confirmed, not just suspected."

"Who is it?" I asked, my heart pounding.

Maria hesitated, glancing briefly toward the celebration still continuing warmly behind us, toward Hunter laughing with Priya.

Toward Asher watching me from across the room with pure happiness written across his face.

"Diane Foster," she said quietly.

I stared at her, confused. "My mom's friend? The one who was being used without realizing it? We already knew about her."

"That's what we thought too," Maria said grimly.

"But the deeper trace shows something different. Diane wasn't just an unknowing pawn feeding information through some fake research survey.

That entire cover was constructed specifically to protect her real identity. Diane Foster isn't just a middle woman being manipulated."

"Then what is she?" I asked, dread building fast in my chest.

"She's the source," Maria said.

"The woman behind everything, Kessler, Yvaine. Ramon all of it.

She's been standing quietly in your mother's contact list this entire time, close enough to gather information effortlessly, hidden in plain sight because nobody ever thought to look twice at an old family friend."

The celebration continued warmly around us, laughter and music filling the hall, everyone else still basking in the joy of the council's decision.

I stood frozen beside Maria, understanding with sick, cold certainty that the true master of everything.

This exhausting year had put us through had been sitting comfortably inside my own mother's trusted circle the entire time, patient and invisible, waiting for exactly the right moment to reveal herself fully.