Chapter 76 The Bastard King
The air in the war room didn't just turn cold; it died. The ledger sat between us like a corpse, the black wax seal of the Witch Lord staring up at Kael and Rune with the eyes of a traitor. I looked at Caspian—the man who had just held me with such desperate, possessive worship—and saw a stranger.
"Recorded by the Witch Lord?" Rune’s voice was a low, vibrating growl of pure horror. He stepped away from Caspian, his hand white-knuckled on the hilt of his blade. "You aren't our brother. You’re a plant. A sleeper cell in the Thorne lineage."
"I grew up in the same dirt as you, Rune!" Caspian shouted, but even I could hear the tremor of doubt in his voice. The electric blue of his eyes was flickering, threatened by a rising tide of oily blackness. "I bled for this pack! I shifted with you under the same moon!"
"A moon the Witch Lord controls," Kael whispered, his silver eyes wide as he backed toward the tactical map. "The Triple Bond... Lyra, if he isn’t a true Thorne, the ritual was a crime against the Great Council. It’s an illegal soul-fusion. It’s heresy."
"I don't care about the Council!" I yelled, stepping between the brothers. "Caspian is the King. He’s the one who fought for the Silver Woods!"
The floorboards didn't just lurch; they detonated. A frost-axe, glowing with a malevolent blue light, tore through the center of the tactical table, splitting the lineage ledger in half. Black shadow-ash billowed from the hole, and Alpha Vane rose from the darkness like a demon from the pit.
"A King?" Vane laughed, the sound a dry, metallic rattle. He kicked the debris aside, his gaze fixed on Caspian. "He’s a bastard of the Void, Lyra. A cuckoo in the wolf’s nest."
Behind Vane, a dozen manor guards—men who had sworn their lives to the Thorne brothers—stepped out of the shadows. They didn't have their swords drawn against Vane. They had them aimed at us.
"Captain Jace?" Rune barked, his amber eyes flashing. "Lower your steel! That is your King!"
"No, Alpha," the Captain said, his voice shaking. "We heard. The records don't lie. We won't follow a Void-born pretender. The North is here to cleanse the bloodline."
"You see, 'Caspian'?" Vane sneered, stepping closer. "The pack knows. A wolf follows blood, not a face. And your blood belongs to the abyss."
"I am the Alpha!" Caspian roared, his aura flaring. But the silver-gas from the vents was still thick, and his wolf didn't answer. He was just a man, standing in the wreckage of his own legitimacy.
"You’re a ward of the Council now," Vane said, turning his attention to me. "And your 'husbands' are targets. Guards! Seize the pretender!"
"No!" I lunged for the balcony doors, throwing them open. The cold night air hit my face, and I looked down at the courtyard. Hundreds of guards were gathered, their torches flickering like a sea of orange fire. "Listen to me! All of you!"
The courtyard went silent.
"Vane is lying to you!" I screamed, my voice amplified by the Luna-resonance. "He’s using a piece of paper to steal your sovereignty! Caspian is the King of the Silver Woods because I chose him! Not because of a seal, but because of the bond!"
"The bond is a curse, Luna!" a voice shouted from the crowd. "He’s an abomination!"
"He is your Alpha!" I roared back. I grabbed Caspian’s hand, pulling him onto the balcony beside me. I ignored the faceslap of the guards’ glares. "I am the Silver Luna! I am the blood of the woods! And I declare Caspian my Chosen! If you strike him, you strike me!"
For a second, the mutiny wavered. The guards looked at me, then at the man beside me.
"She’s bewitched!" Vane’s voice boomed from inside the room. He stepped onto the balcony, his massive frame towering over us. "The Void-born has infested her mind through the illegal link! Look at his eyes! Are those the eyes of a Thorne?"
Caspian’s eyes flared—a terrifying, swirling mix of electric blue and void-black. It was the worst possible timing. The crowd gasped, a collective sound of fear and disgust.
"Kill the bastard!"
The cry went up like a wildfire. Arrows began to whistle through the air.
"Get down!" Rune shouted. He lunged forward, his massive body a shield of muscle and tan skin. He shoved Caspian and me back toward the interior of the room.
"Rune, no!"
A sound like a hammer hitting a wet melon echoed through the hall.
Rune gasped, his body jolting violently. He stumbled back, his hands clutching his shoulder. Protruding from his chest was a "Silver-Tipped Bolt"—a heavy, jagged projectile designed to penetrate the thickest hide and deliver a localized burst of pure, refined silver.
"Rune!" Kael screamed.
The reaction was instantaneous. Because of the sensory bridge, the pain didn't stay with Rune. It traveled through the link like a lightning strike.
Caspian’s knees buckled. He let out a horrific, guttural shriek, his hands flying to his own chest as if he had been shot. Beside him, Kael collapsed against the wall, his eyes rolling back in his head, his silver-white light extinguishing in a fit of agonizing static.
I felt it too—a phantom spike of white-hot fire in my shoulder that mirrored Rune’s wound.
"The link..." I gasped, falling to my knees. "It’s... it’s feeding back..."
Rune slumped to the floor, his amber eyes wide and glazed. The silver from the bolt was already beginning to sizzle against his skin, turning his blood into a smoking, black sludge.
"One hit..." Vane whispered, stepping over the fallen Alpha. He looked down at the three brothers, who were all writhing on the floor in perfect, agonizing synchronization. "One hit, and the whole pack falls. That’s the beauty of your 'Triple Bond,' Lyra. It’s not a weapon. It’s a suicide pact."
Vane raised his frost-axe, the blue blade humming with a lethal energy.
"Now," Vane said, his eyes fixed on Caspian. "Let's see what color your blood really is."
I tried to reach for my dagger, but my arm was paralyzed by the feedback from Rune’s nerves. I looked at Caspian. He was gasping for air, his eyes fixed on mine, his blue fire dying out.
"Lyra..." he wheezed.
Vane swung the axe.