Chapter 5

I laughed even harder, until my stomach cramped and the burns on my back split open again.

Valerius looked at me with cold distaste, as if I were irrational as he suspected.

He turned away, walked to where Isolde stood by the door, and offered her his arm. She leaned into him with tears still wet on her face.

They left together. The carriage rolled away into the distance.

I returned to the small guest house on the palace grounds alone. By nightfall I was burning with fever.

Two days passed. Valerius did not come.

On the third afternoon, the door opened.

Isolde walked in, several older she-wolves following behind her. Her hand was wrapped in excessive white bandages, and she wore a victorious smile.

"I'm surprised," she said, settling into the main chair. "Even under suspicion of treason, Valerius still protected you from the cells. It seems you do have some small worth to him after all."

"Worth?" I said quietly. "You heard what he said. He just needs someone to prepare his mother's medicine."

"Does that matter?" Isolde leaned forward. "As long as you hold that Luna title, I find you unbearable. Do you know what Valerius said to me recently, Sera? "

"He said you've become bitter and resentful lately. That seeing you makes him uncomfortable."

She stood suddenly and swept her hand across the small table. The medicine bowl shattered on the floor.

"Since Valerius won't handle you properly," she said, "I will. Take her out."

The she-wolves moved forward and grabbed my arms before I could react.

I was weak with fever, my body uncooperative. They dragged me out of the house and into the street.

They brought me to the busiest market square in the territory, where everyone could see.

Isolde positioned herself in the center and began to cry.

"Look, everyone! This is our Luna! She burned sealed Council maps out of jealousy because Valerius values my work! "

"She even tried to scald my hands so I could never draw another map! And she walks free while loyal wolves suffer!"

The crowd began to gather, their faces hard.

"She burned defense maps? That's treason!"

"She attacked a Council Gamma?"

Isolde held up her bandaged hand. "These hands serve the pack's defense. She wanted to destroy them because she couldn't bear that Valerius respected my abilities!"

Someone threw a rotten vegetable. It hit my shoulder. Then stones.

I tried to stay upright, but a heavy kick caught my ribs and I collapsed onto the cobblestones. I curled inward, trying to protect my head.

More blows came. Fists, boots, things I couldn't see.

Then a boot came down hard on my right hand, the hand I needed for healing.

Crack.

The pain was so sharp the world went black.

When I woke, I was lying on a bench in the Council Elder's meeting hall. A healer was setting my hand in a wooden splint.

"You're fortunate," he said quietly. "One of the Elders was passing through the square and saw what happened. He had you brought here."

He finished tying the splint and looked at me seriously. "Your small finger is fractured. One of your ribs is broken."

I stared at the splint for a long time without speaking.

Then I pushed myself upright and walked to the great hall where the Council Elders heard grievances.

"I am here to file charges against Gamma Isolde," I said, my voice steady despite the pain.

"For inciting public violence, orchestrating an assault, and causing severe bodily harm. I have witnesses."

Three days later, the Council brought Isolde in for judgment.

The case was too public to ignore, too many witnesses to dismiss. Despite attempts from the palace to intervene, the Elders handed down their ruling.

Twenty lashes. Six months suspension from her Gamma duties. Confined to quarters during that time.

I stayed in the pack clinic for the remainder of the week, staring out the window as my body slowly knitted itself back together.

Seven days later, I returned to the palace.

I pushed open the door to my quarters and found the room in ruins. Shattered porcelain covered the floor.

Valerius sat in the center of it all, his expression dark as a storm. He looked up the moment I entered.

"You reported her to the Council?" His voice was flat and dangerous. "You had Isolde arrested?"

I stepped over the broken pieces and said nothing.

"I'm asking you a question!" Valerius shot to his feet and grabbed my shoulders so tight I felt my bones grinding together.

"Do you have any idea what you've done? The Council's annual strategy is next month — her entire career depends on it! You've destroyed her reputation and her future!"