The Stand-In Queen Chapter 08
Elara wore white furs, no paint on her face, weeping beautifully as she knelt on the steps of the capital square, drawing a crowd of pack members.
“Everyone, hear me!”
Her voice was pitiful.
“I only wanted to come home, to reunite with my parents. I meant no harm! But Ayla cannot tolerate me! She forced me to leave the territory, to abandon everything! She stole my fate, took my place for six years, and now that I’ve returned, she wants me dead!”
She raised her tear-filled eyes, scanning the growing crowd, and her voice shot higher:
“She is the imposter! Back then, she used tricks to bewitch Kael and take my place at the Bonding Ceremony! For six years she has occupied the Luna Queen’s throne, enjoying the glory that was mine, and now she wants to strip me of even a place to stand! Where is the justice in that?!”
Her words were earnest, stirring, manipulative.
The crowd began to whisper, looking toward the Pack Hall with sympathy for her and contempt for me, the ” vicious sister.”
Just as anger peaked, Kael returned.
He saw the crowd condemning me, and his face darkened with fury.
“Elara!” His gaze was ice, his voice barely restrained. “Who gave you the nerve to spread such poison here, to slander my Luna?!”
Elara seemed shaken by his force, her sobs catching:
“Kael… I only…”
“Silence!” Kael cut her off. “What passes between me and my Luna is not for an outsider to speak of! Spread such lies again, stain her name, and I will show no mercy-not even for old acquaintance.”
His voice carried absolute authority.
The crowd shrank under the cold killing intent radiating from him, and the noise died down.
Elara looked at his merciless expression. Her eyes flickered. Suddenly she rose, pushed through the crowd, and ran toward the city gates, vanishing around the corner.
Kael snorted and ordered his guards:
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“Watch her. See where she goes.”
Suspicion coiled in his chest. Her behavior was far more than jealousy.
As expected, the tracking guards soon reported that Elara had left the city and headed straight for a desolate forest in the western territory.
Kael’s brows locked together. He gathered his elite guard and rode after her.
Deep in the forest, branches blocked the sky, light thin and grey.
Kael had barely spotted Elara’s vague shape when the air tore with whistling arrows.
“Kael, watch out!” his guard shouted.
Dozens of arrows shot from the dark woods. At the same time, dozens of rival pack survivors surged from the shadows, surrounding Kael’s party. They wore old clan markings, their eyes full of hatred.
Their leader was the very rival pack chieftain who had escaped the night attack years ago.
“Kael! Didn’t expect this, did you? I’m alive!”
He grinned savagely. “Today is your death day. Pay for my brothers!”
Kael’s face went cold. He understood instantly.
Elara. She had colluded with these outlaws to set this trap.
“With only you remnants?” Kael drew his blade, killing intent blazing in his eyes. “You destroyed my family that year. Today, I settle the debt myself-for my child!”
Battle exploded.
The assassins were many, prepared, each strike vicious and aimed to kill.
Kael was powerful, his guard elite, but the enemy fought like men with nothing to lose. Soon, casualties appeared on Kael’s side, and a wound opened on his own arm.
“Kael, your life!”
The enemy chief seized the moment, joining his best fighters in a coordinated assault.
There was nowhere to dodge.
“Clang!”
A blade of light precisely deflected the fatal strike aimed at Kael.
I landed steady at Kael’s side.
