Luna Forsaken (Arya and James) novel Chapter 135

135 The Hall Heard the Truth

Arya’s POVO

Ger 26

Maxwell turned to the room, then to Marcel, who had moved closer during the exchange, his face carved in fury and calculation.

“As a Union Alpha,” Maxwell said, voice carrying, “I demand they be surrendered. Will Silverfang refuse

me?”

That landed like a challenge and a test.

Rebecca whirled on Marcel. “You can’t,”

Marcel cut his eyes to her, then to the watching Alphas around them.

He saw it.

The suspicion.

The shifting alliances.

The way this could become his humiliation if he appeared to shield liars and possible poisoners after publicly condemning me.

His voice came out clipped and tight. “It’s fine. We will hand them over.”

Rebecca stared at him. “Marcel,”

He didn’t even look at her when he spoke next. “Be quiet.”

She stepped toward him, furious, panicking now. “You cannot just,”

He turned then, and his voice cracked across the room like a strike.

“Shut up in front of everyone.”

The hall went dead silent.

Even Margret stopped sobbing for a second.

Marcel looked at one of his guards. “Bring the other one. Lisa.”

Then, colder, for the room to hear, “James already requested they be returned. I will simply tell him Arya took them and Maxwell is right. We should not offer shelter to women who poisoned my daughter and killed my unborn grandchild.”

135 The Hall Heard the Truth

The lie shifted shape in real time.

I saw several wolves register it.

Convenient. Too convenient.

Margret heard it too.

And something in her broke.

“Please!” she cried suddenly, twisting toward Rebecca despite my grip. “Luna Rebecca, please, please, you promised! You promised we would be safe!”

Rebecca’s face changed.

Not guilt.

Panic.

Maxwell’s eyes narrowed.

I loosened my grip just enough for Margret to speak without choking on her own sobs, but I did not let

“Safe from what?” Maxwell asked, voice quiet and dangerous.

Margret was shaking so hard her words came in bursts. “Y-you said… you said Silverfang is secure… Union protection… you said nobody could touch us here…”

Rebecca hissed, “Shut her mouth.”

But fear had already taken Margret completely.

“No!” she cried, looking wildly around at the room, at the Alphas, at me, at Maxwell, at Marcel, at Rebecca. “No, don’t let them take me, please, I told the truth then, I did what I was told,

“Whose truth?” I snapped, dragging her face up by her hair. “Say it.”

She looked at me, and whatever she saw in my face ripped the rest out of her.

“It was Leah!” she screamed.

The hall exploded in gasps.

Rebecca lunged forward. “She’s hysterical,

Margret spoke louder, words tumbling over sobs. “Leah told us to pin it on you! She said, she said she

135 The Hall Heard the Truth

was carrying a baby for an unknown wolf and she didn’t want that burden anymore!”

A collective shock rolled through the room so hard it felt physical.

My hand tightened in her hair.

For a second, I couldn’t breathe.

Margret kept talking, the confession pouring out like blood from a severed vein.

“She asked Lisa for the medicine,” she cried. “An abortifacient, because Lisa is a midwife too, and she said she would drink it an hour before the banquet, before everyone gathered, and when they called us, we should say Luna Arya ordered it,”

Rebecca’s voice cut in, shrill now. “She’s lying! She’s trying to save herself!”

Margret shook violently. “No! No! You offered us this! You offered us membership in Silverfang if we did it, if we testified! You said this pack is safe, secure, Union-protected, said we would never have to

go back and nobody could touch us!”

Every eye in the room swung to Rebecca.

Silence.

Then murmurs, louder this time, uglier.

“Membership?”

“She bought testimony,”

“Against a Luna?”

“Against Nightwind?”

“Leah was pregnant with whose child?”

The room was no longer under Marcel’s control.

Not even close.

I stood there with Margret in my grip, breathing hard, my heart slamming against my ribs, and all I

could hear for one terrible second was an old echo:

They’re lying, James. They’re lying.

My throat burned.

135 The Hall Heard the Truth

Too late.

Too late for the baby.

Too late for the whipping.

Too late for the chains and the blade and the severing and the crowd.

But not too late for truth to choke them.

* Get 28

Manu

Rebecca looked around wildly, trying to recover the room. “She is saying anything to avoid

punishment! Marcel, tell them,”

The slap cracked so loudly it silenced the hall.

Marcel hit Rebecca across the face with enough force to send her staggering sideways.

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