Kustav’s voice sliced through the tension, honey-sweet and poisonous. "Well, Lilith? What will it be?" His golden eyes gleamed with glee the man could not even conceal properly. "Surely you see reason. Veronique has been Lycan her entire life. She was Beta—trained, lethal, born to this world." He tilted his head, smirk widening. "It would be like an antelope facing a leopard. The only sane choice for survival would be to run." He spread his arms.
"You can always come to the only family you have in this realm," he offered.
Vladimir’s grip on my hand turned iron-hard. He turned on Veronique, and the temperature plummeted. Ice crept across the marble in jagged patterns from where he stood. "Who are you to invoke the old laws in my presence? You, who betrayed your Alpha’s trust?"
Veronique’s mask cracked for just a moment. Her amethyst eyes glistened as she took a step forward, one hand reaching toward him. "Vladimir, please. Make the right choice. You know I’ve loved you since—"
The room held its breath.
The single word froze her mid-sentence.
"You have a choice to make right now, Veronique," Vladimir continued, his voice dropping to something quiet and lethal. "Withdraw this challenge. Walk away. And we remain what we were—family, as I swore we would remain. Nothing more."
Her chin trembled. "I don’t want you that way, I can’t."
My eyes widened, and some of the guests gasped.
"You don’t understand—" she whispered.
"But if you continue down this path," he cut her off, frost spreading from his feet and climbing the walls, "if you force this duel, we will not be strangers." His glacier eyes narrowed. "We will be enemies. And I do not show mercy to my enemies."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Veronique’s face hardened, tears frozen on her lashes. "Then so be it," she whispered. "Better your enemy than watching you give yourself to her."
Vladimir’s expression didn’t change, but something ancient and terrible flickered in his eyes. "You’ve made your choice."
"As have you," she shot back, voice gaining strength. "The old laws bind even you, High Alpha. Even the moon has dominion over you. You cannot interfere with a Luna Duel once issued. Not without—"
"Not without what?" Vladimir’s voice dropped to something deadly soft. "Choose your next words carefully, Veronique."
Her face drained of color, her eyes darting to me, venom filtering into her gaze.
"It is fate," Kustav interrupted smoothly, rising from his seat. His eyes gleamed with triumph. "What better trial is there for the Marked Hybrid? If she cannot defeat a high-rank wolf, what chance does she have to mend the tear in the Veil?" He spread his hands as if presenting an obvious truth. "This is destiny itself speaking. And if you prevent this challenge, High Alpha, you admit you have no faith in the Marked One you’ve chosen to champion."
The trap snapped shut with perfect precision.
Another voice joined—Caesar, his tone measured and reasonable. "With all due respect, High Alpha," he addressed Vladimir, "if you believe she cannot survive this trial, perhaps the matrimony should be reconsidered. She could be trained under her father’s bond and guidance in Nightshade Pack instead."
Vladimir’s jaw clenched so hard I heard his teeth grind. Frost spread further from his feet, climbing the altar steps.
"Well played. Very well played," Vladimir said quietly, his glacier eyes fixed on Kustav. "Both of you."
"I merely stated facts," Kustav replied with false innocence.
Vladimir turned his attention back to the cloaked figure. "The Luna challenge—the parameters."
"To first blood, to submission, or to death," the figure intoned. "The challenger chooses."
"Death," Veronique said immediately, her voice hollow.
A muscle ticked in Vladimir’s jaw. His hand tightened on mine, and I felt something through our severed bond, the connection that felt incomplete—a residual echo. His absolute, incandescent rage.
He couldn’t stop this. Not without validating their claims that I was too weak. Not without breaking laws that held supernatural weight. Not without giving them exactly what they wanted.
When he looked at me, his eyes held fierce, terrible certainty.
"You will survive this," he said, low enough that only I could hear. "Or I die trying."
My mother’s urn pressed warm against my side.
Kaia’s voice bled through my panicked mind into my thoughts. "Survive," she whispered. "However you must."
I looked at Veronique in all her beautiful lethality. Then at Kustav and Caesar. The anticipation written across their faces made my stomach twist.
Two men wanted control of me.
And Vladimir—trapped by laws even his power couldn’t break—waiting to see if I would fight or yield. Thıs content belongs to novel⚑fire.net
There were new rules to play by.
"Lilith Brooks," the cloaked figure repeated. "What is your answer?"
My racing heart drowned out all reason. "I accept," I announced.
Kustav’s reaction was immediate. His smirk melted into mush.
Caesar’s gaze darkened, his mouth twisting into a scowl, his stare piercing me. He looked at me like I had wronged him.
"I accept your challenge," I reiterated, watching eyes widen at my declaration.
I tore my eyes away and faced Veronique. "You have yourself a duel," I told her.
There was no apprehension in her sharp smile, only the promise of how fucked I was.
Vladimir’s ice still crackled, gripping my feet through the black marble.
I barely closed the door before another knock came. I let out a long sigh, my mind not settled enough for conversation or more news of my future demise.
I hugged the urn closer.
This had been a disaster from the beginning. So I was off to a disastrous start on my journey in a realm I hadn’t even known existed. What else was there?
I swung the door open.
A guard stood at the threshold, his face inscrutable.
Vladimir’s words were simple, yet managed to carry immense weight. "You have a visitor, Mistress."
More dread coiled in my gut. I knew no one in this realm. "Who is it?"
"Alpha Caesar D’Castille and his mother, Lady Cassandra D’Castille."