Chapter 16 The Trial of the Seven Alphas
The night air was thick with the scent of pine and burning pitch.
At the main gates of the Black Mountain Estate, seven men stood in a semi-circle.
These were the Alphas of the surrounding smaller packs—men who had grown fat and wealthy under the Valerius trade deals.
They wore traditional ceremonial robes, their faces painted with the red clay of a formal challenge.
I stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the courtyard, Killian half a step behind me.
The crowd of pack members gathered below fell into a hush, their eyes darting between me and the angry men at the gate.
"Elara Vance!" the eldest of the seven, a man named Alpha Garrow, shouted.
His voice was like grinding stones. "You stand accused of the unlawful seizure of a Great Pack, the use of forbidden Northern magic, and the kidnapping of the Nightshade heirs!
"
I rested my hands on the stone railing, feeling the cold vibration of the mountain beneath my palms. "I am Elara, the Silver Queen of the North," I corrected, my voice carrying to the very edge of the woods.
"I have seized nothing that wasn't already mine by fated right.
As for the heirs, they are my sons. A mother cannot kidnap her own heart.
"
"You were rejected!" Garrow roared, his Alpha aura flaring in a wave of oppressive heat.
"By the laws of the Moon Mother, you are a rogue.
A rogue cannot hold a throne. We demand the return of the boys to the Nightshade bloodline and your immediate departure to the Northern wastes.
"
Beside me, Killian stepped forward.
The movement was slow, deliberate. He didn't roar.
He didn't flare his aura. He simply spoke, his voice quiet and lethal.
"The rejection was born of a lie," Killian said.
"A lie orchestrated by a traitor who is now in a Lycan cell.
I, Killian Nightshade, formally acknowledge these children as my true heirs and Elara as the rightful Sovereign of this territory.
Any challenge to her is a challenge to the Nightshade line itself.
"
The Seven Alphas looked stunned. They hadn't expected Killian to concede so publicly.
"You are broken, Killian!" another Alpha shouted.
"The silver has rotted your brain. If you won't defend your honor, we will do it for you.
We invoke the Trial of the Seven. Seven Alphas against the usurper.
If she survives until dawn, the territory is hers.
If she falls, the boys come with us."
"No," Killian growled, his hand dropping to the hilt of a ceremonial dagger at his belt.
"That trial is for criminals, not Queens.
"
"I accept."
The words fell like heavy stones into a deep pool. Killian spun to look at me, his eyes wide with horror. "Elara, you’re still recovering. Seven Alphas? It’s a death trap.
"
"It’s an opportunity," I whispered to him, my eyes fixed on Garrow.
"If I beat them here, in front of the pack, no one will ever question my right again.
The Council will be silenced forever."
I looked down at the seven men.
"Tonight, at the Altar of the Moon. Seven against one. But be warned, Alphas—I am not the omega you remember. I am the winter you’ve been dreading. "