Chapter 25 #2
She finally looked up, but her gaze still didn’t find me.
It darted around the room, searching for an exit the way something trapped does.
She hadn’t come to see me last night. She hadn’t sought me out this morning.
The silence she’d maintained since my dance with Ethan felt like barbed wire around my throat.
“Tell the Table what you saw.”
Mavy’s hands trembled. Her silver eyes flickered to me for a fraction of a second, then back to the floor.
“I saw what I always saw—friendship,” she whispered. The words were steady, rehearsed. “After her dance with Ethan, they’d slipped away to be alone. They’ve always had… an understanding.”
The Hall grew colder as her words of betrayal stabbed me in the heart.
The woman I had called my sister—the only person I’d always given the benefit of the doubt—had watched me drown for years.
Now, she stood at the witness table, ignoring the bruises and my split lip, to describe my assault as a willing choice.
“Did you follow them?” Hannes pushed, his violet eyes narrowed as he leaned forward.
Mavy swallowed hard, her head moving with the action. “I did. She didn’t fight him. She… held his hand and led him toward the stone wall.”
Ethan didn’t move a muscle, but the shadows behind his mask seemed to bleed outward, darkening the space around us. Mavy’s voice wavered as if she felt the shift. My fingers dug into my thighs.
“The Table recognizes the witness,” Alpha Hannes said, his voice dull.
Mavy stepped back, her duty to her bloodline finished, leaving me hollowed out and alone.
She turned her head, her eyes finally locking onto mine—shimmering with a grief she didn’t have the right to feel.
Her lips parted, a silent plea on her tongue.
She still expected me to offer her comfort for the choice she made.
Seeing the cold stare I gave back, she tucked her chin and left. She knew exactly what she had done.
“Then we bring in the final witness,” Ethan declared, lifting his arm and motioning for the next one.
Gabe strode down the walkway and stopped at the table. He stood with his chin held high. His blue gaze found mine and the absolute promise staring back at me strengthened me.
I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.
At the back of the crowd, Olivia stood still and composed.
“Gabriel Moon of Half Moon. I work with Adea in the castle. I swear to tell the truth or be struck down by the Goddess.”
“Go ahead,” Ethan urged.
“I saw the signs for months,” Gabe continued, his voice thick with conviction.
“The small touches, the way Shane would bump into her in the Halls, follow her to Lycan Academy. I had ignored it. I let his rank stop me from being a good friend. At the festival, I let temptation sway me. I told her I wouldn’t leave her side. ”
I had seen Gabe joke his way out of trouble, shrug off pain, and fill the silence with noise. I had never heard him speak like this. Every word was deliberate, an act of atonement.
“I found her after. I saw what Shane had done. Her dress was torn, her breasts exposed. Those bruises on her face and throat, the cuts, they were done in the garden, and it hadn’t been consensual. She’d fought, like the warrior she is.”
Tears escaped and rolled down my cheeks.
Beside me, Ethan tensed. His gaze was fixed on Shane.
My focus returned to my best friend. He didn’t look at me as he dismantled Beka and Mavy’s lie.
Then he told them about the breakfast—Shane’s hand sliding beneath the table—a detail Gabe had noted and ignored.
He told them about the night he’d come to my room, knowing I needed him, and held me while I cried without knowing why.
He didn’t skip the shameful parts: Lilith, the bathroom stall, and the agonizing moment he realized something was wrong.
“I promised her I’d stay close,” he said, his voice cracked. “I didn’t. But I saw the garden and my confession is only the start of how I’ll make up for my shortcomings.”
When he finished, the room was quiet, his eyes wet, but his gaze firm.
“The Table recognizes the witness,” Alpha Hannes repeated.
Gabe looked at me, nodded, and left.
“You are claiming Adea as your mate?” Jaxon’s voice boomed.
“I am,” Ethan said, the words vibrating like a caress.
Jaxon looked at me across the table. Something moved in his eyes—not quite guilt, not quite grief—something that didn’t have a clean name. “Congratulations on finding your mate, Adea,” he said. The words were formal. Correct. Empty. Then he straightened. “But he is still my heir.”
“He touched what was mine,” Ethan growled. “He dared.”
“The laws must be obeyed!” Hannes pushed, his violet eyes flashing with a cold finality.
That was when I stood. My chair scraped against the stone.
I was done sitting quietly as they attacked my character and spouted lies. I lifted my chin, letting the bruises on my throat serve as my opening statement.
“This wasn’t the first time. You could smell your son on me this week,” I said, my voice steady. “The garden was only the catalyst for his actions. Your daughter stood on this stand and lied. The fact that he’s your heir doesn’t exonerate him.”
Jaxon flinched and Emilia’s head dropped into her hands.
“I have no wolf, no rank, no family,” I continued. “Shane is guilty of multiple crimes. I know this, you know this. I won’t stand here and beg for anyone to believe me.”
Ethan’s hand found the small of my back as I sat down.
“All in favor of the heir’s guilt?” Ethan asked as he raised his hand. Eight others followed. “All in favor of his innocence?” Four raised their hands, including Jaxon.
He looked at Jaxon, the green glow behind his mask flaring with predatory heat.
“Shane, heir of Half Moon Kingdom, for the attempted violation of my Luna, the sentence is death. I will take his head before sunrise.”