Chapter 157: chapter 157

Gabriel’s POV

We dragged Dante’s unconscious body into the council hall like a warning they never asked for. Paxton gripped one arm. I took the other. Dante’s blood left a dark smear across the marble floor, and I made sure every elder saw it. Let them choke on the proof of what they failed to stop.

Carlota walked behind us, calm, silent, terrifying. The elders didn't rush to her. They didn't even look at Dante for long. Their horror isn’t for the attack or the dead guards or the blood soaking into sacred stone.

It was for her. I knew this was going to happen when we decided to bring Dante here. She might be accused of illegally killing people or doing the wrong things, or they might try to frame her for half of the deaths of those innocent people, but it wasn't her fault anyway.

Even if they wanted to say something against that, they wouldn't be able to say it because they are afraid of her. It's good enough to know that they are afraid of her. Unless you know how they are going to sacrifice her to the moon if one more threat is out of the way.

"What is going on? What have you done?" someone asked from around the elders.

She moved forward and looked at them straight in the eyes. "What does it look like I've done? I'm bringing the bastard you sent to kill me. Don't you see?"

They looked more terrified than before as she opened her mouth to speak. I realized that she just didn't accuse them—it seemed like she knew they were behind all of this. To what extent were they willing to go just to get her out of the way? At worst she would be hurt, but I don't think they can kill someone who was chosen by the moon anyway.

"I guess I was right. You sent Dante to kill me, didn't you?" she questioned them again.

One of them stepped forward, shaking with rage more than fear. “You’ve broken the pact,” he snapped, pointing at Carlota like she’s a curse made flesh. “You bound two wolves. You wielded forbidden lunar power. You are no heir.”

His eyes hardened. “You are the end.”

I didn't let him finish whatever sentence he planned next.

I stepped in front of her without thinking, my body moving on instinct, like it always does when danger pointed her way.

“Then we’ll end together,” I said. “What exactly are you scared of? Dying? Being werewolves that you are, are you all that scared of death?”

My words didn't shake. I didn't even hesitate. If this hall wants blood, it can start with mine. Just looking at them acting like they could control everyone when in reality they are all just scared of dying. Who chose them as council elders anyway?

The council erupted, voices clashing, fear and fury tangling into something ugly. Finally, the eldest raised his staff, slamming it into the floor. The sound echoed like a verdict.

“By council law,” he declared, “you are all sentenced to execution at dawn.”

"Who did you say you're going to execute?" Paxton asked them.

The head elder was getting angry. "You are being so disrespectful! We already gave you an easy way out and you didn't want it. You don't deserve to live."

I glanced back at Carlota, expecting anger, defiance. I was expecting her to get angry and show them that they were not the ones who could make rules for her.

She didn't flinch. Not even a little.

She lifted her chin, eyes steady, glow faint but unmistakable beneath her skin. “Try it,” she said softly. “The moon listens to me now.”

Her gaze swept over the elders, cool and fearless. “Not you.”

The oldest couldn't believe that she said something like that, and I couldn't stop the smile coming out of my mouth. This was exactly what I expected from her. This kind of dare was something they wouldn't try to go against.

"How dare you threaten us?" Another elder pointed at her. "You are completely uncontrollable. We shouldn't have allowed you to awaken your power."

"He's right. We should have sacrificed you a long time ago and made sure that you had no opportunity to come back or rise again."

I was so angry when I heard them threatening her with that. How could they say something like this to her like she wasn't even a person but a commodity they could all exchange at will?

"You think I'm making negotiations with you? If you want to end up like the person you sent to me, then you can try," she replied to them.

I looked at the elders, hoping that they would do something, but none of them came forward. I really wanted to attack them badly and make them understand that they had no right over the woman that was supposed to be ours.

"This is something that has never happened before. You're a curse! Not a blessing at all!"

She scoffed. "I was on my own when you came to me. I never begged to be one in the first place. Now that you have an heir like you wanted, you're just going to run away from it? You think it's possible?"

The air changed. A low rumble rolled overhead, deep and sudden, even though the sky outside was clear. The stone beneath our feet vibrated. One by one, the council’s candles flickered… then died.

Darkness swallowed the chamber. Everyone was experiencing the extent of her wrath. No one would just say anything anymore because they knew it wasn't as easy as he said. This was something that I didn't think I would get to see. I could see it clearly in the elders’ silence.

Maybe this was something that they finally realized, and they knew they had already made a mistake. They shouldn't have asked her to be executed or spoken to her in that way anyway. They didn’t sentence Carlota. They challenged the moon itself.

I wonder how they are going to get out of this one. I want to see what their reasons would be for being so disrespectful to the same moon that they worship so much and wanted to sacrifice her to.

"What is going on? Are you going to kill everyone?"

I looked at her face, and she smirked. "What do you think I'm doing?"