Selene's POV

The pack dungeon was cold and dark. Iron bars kept me from the world that I used to know with my husband, and the cold stone ground gnawed at my festival dress like winter teeth. I'd been here three hours now, but it had felt like three years.

Voices and shouts echoed overhead. The pack, their fury growing by the second, closed in. A chant had begun – "Justice for Marcus" – and soon the others followed, until the chant thundered through the caves like a war drum.

They wanted my blood. My own kind, who'd embraced me this morning, now demanded my death.

The creak of the dungeon door and the crash of stone stairs beneath heralded Elder Morrison's arrival. Wine-stained gray beard and cold anger-filled eyes spoke of one who had lost someone precious. Three other councilors followed him, their faces set in the flickering light of the torches.

"Selene." Morrison's tone was no longer courteous. No longer "Luna." No respect. "The council has questions."

I stood up from the mildewed straw where I'd sat, attempting to maintain some dignity that remained. "I'll do my best."

"Where did you find the nightshade?"

"From the herb men who come by every spring. I use it for medicine, sparingly. It relieves unendurable pain when nothing else will."

Elder Catherine stepped forward, her wrinkled face twisted in outrage. "How many other individuals knew about your caches of nightshade?"

"Just the pack healer. And Corwin, of course. Maybe a few others who've witnessed me preparing medicines."

"Like Beta Kane?"

I paused, weighing. "He may have seen me handling it a couple of times. But he's not interested in healing arts."

Morrison wrote words on parchment. "Explain your relationship with Prince Marcus."

"He was my brother-in-law. I loved him." My voice trembled even as I tried to be strong. "He treated me kindly when others doubted my right to be called Luna. He stood up for me."

"Perhaps so?" Elder Catherine's eyes flashed. "Perhaps you tired of being the second choice? The common-born Luna who needed to be safeguarded?"

"That is not true."

"Isn't it?" Morrison stepped closer. "We have records of fights between you and Marcus. Witnesses report you were angry with him last week."

My heart fell. "He was being irresponsible all over again. Drinking with other pack scouts in the neighborhood, getting drunk, sleeping till midnight. I was worried about him. I tried to make him think clearly."

"By threatening him?"

"I never threatened him!"

"Sarah overheard you tell him that you warned him that he'd 'regret his decisions one day.'"

Catherine's voice was as cold as shattered glass. "Those are your very words."

The memory struck me like a body blow. I had spoken the words, but not just as they were twisting them. Marcus had been drunk, babbling about infiltrating enemy lines to show his courage. I'd been afraid he'd get himself killed.

"I was keeping him out of stupidity," I panted. "I was fearing he'd be irresponsible."

"Or were you sick of his interference in pack business?" Morrison questioned. "Sick of him questioning your judgment? Making you appear weak?"

"Marcus never made me appear weak. He stood by my side."

"Did he?" Catherine drew out another sheet of parchment. "What about the trade agreement with the Silver Moon Pack? Marcus openly disagreed with you. Called it 'short-sighted' in front of the entire council."

I recalled that too. Marcus had urged us to be harder in our bargaining, and I'd insisted on a softer line. But it was just a difference of opinion.

"We sometimes disagreed. That happens. It isn't an indication that I wished him dead."

"Is it?" Morrison's gaze was cold. "A Luna who can't keep her own relatives in line is a Luna who looks weak. And weak leaders don't last long."

They continued to question, bending every recollection to some sinister end. Every quarrel was proof of some grudge. Every explosion of anger was proof of intent to kill. When they finished with me, I was adrift on my own testimony.

"The council will confer," Morrison stated, rising to leave. "But I imagine we all have an idea what the decision will be."

As I stepped out, I fell back onto the straw and buried my face in my palms. How had it gone so terribly wrong so fast? Today I had been a respected Luna, a loved and admired woman among my pack. This evening I was a killer.

The door creaked open once more, and in walked Kane. He balanced a tray of water and food in his hands and deposited them just outside my door as if I were some wild beast that would bite him.

"Figured you might be hungry," he muttered, his voice almost soft.

"I'm not."

"You should eat. You'll need your strength tomorrow."

Tomorrow. My trial. And what happened after. I shivered.

Kane regarded me over the bars, his blue eyes inscrutable. "I want you to know this pains me not, Selene. You were a good Luna. Mostly."

"You made mistakes?"

"Yes. The pack saw them, even if Corwin was so besotted by love he didn't notice them."

I gazed up at him, my confusion entwined with my despair. "What mistakes?"

"Little things at first. Favoring some families over others. Ruling without council approval. That business with the rogue wolves last month – you were near bringing on a war with your foolishness."

"I was defending our land."

"You were showing off. Attempting to prove that you were capable of being Luna when you were born of common stock." Kane shook his head sadly. "Pride, Selene. It's a killer thing."

His words stung because there was a little bit of truth to them. I'd been working harder in recent months to prove myself. The rumors about my bloodlines had grown louder the last few months, and I'd felt the need to prove I was capable.

"But Marcus?" Kane continued. "That was going too far. Even for you."

"I didn't kill him."

Kane remained silent for an extremely long time, just staring at me with those frigid blue eyes. When he finally spoke, he was soft. Almost too soft.

"Really believe that?"

The words slammed into me like a body punch. "What do you mean?"

"I've been reconsidering what I said. The blackouts. Stress making you do things you wouldn't do otherwise." He leaned in closer to the bars. "You've been under an awful lot of pressure yourself lately. The pack challenging your leadership, fights with neighboring territories, pressure to have an heir."

"I would remember killing someone."

"Would you? Memory is an odd thing, Selene. Our brains have a tendency to shield us from such bitter truths we cannot endure."

What he said seeded in my mind seeds of uncertainty. Had I indeed been behaving strangely? There were nights that I had not slept, walking up and down on our bedchamber floor while Corwin slept beside me. Sometimes when I woke up somewhere and could not recall how I had arrived.

"You're attempting to make me question myself."

"I'm trying to tell you what occurred. So that you can talk tomorrow with peace."

"By taking blame for something that isn't mine?"

Kane exhaled. "The facts are not lies, Selene. And I believe, in your heart, you know this."

He headed for the door, then stopped there. "For what it's worth, I'll intercede on your behalf tomorrow. Plead for mercy. A swift death rather than. the standard punishment for killing an heir."

The ancient punishment. I'd heard the stories, the blood and terror written on the old laws. Traitors weren't just killed – they were made examples of. Tortured. Hung on the streets to die. Left to die, inch by inch, so the entire pack could see and learn.

"Kane." My breath was barely audible. "If I actually did this. if somehow I killed Marcus and don't even know I did it. why would I do something like this?"

He glanced at me over his shoulder with something that could have been pity. "Because you're human, Selene. And humans do horrible things when they're desperate."

I remained in the darkness after he had gone, trying to sort it out. The evidence was too great. The witnesses were credible. Even my own memories seemed suspect now, full of gaps and doubt.

But somehow, it felt a little off. Something I couldn't quite place.

I recalled closing my eyes and trying to recreate the moment Marcus had fallen. His shock-white face. The pain-dulled expression in his eyes. The confusion that he'd looked at me with instead of accusation. If I'd poisoned him, wouldn't he've questioned it? Wouldn't he have accused me?

And the timing – why tonight to attack? The harvest festival was treated holy by our pack. To kill Marcus during the festivities would be the greatest sacrilege.

Unless that was precisely the idea. Unless someone wanted it to appear I'd lost my mind.

The idea flashed into my mind like a bolt of lightning, quick and brutal and shocking. What if I was innocent after all? What if someone had orchestrated it all, being clever enough to set me up so that even I would begin doubting my own sanity?

But who? Who despised me that much to ruin my life in such a total way?

I was still conjecturing on this when again the sound of footsteps on the stairs reverberated through the castle. The heavy boots. Several pairs. My heart racing as the voices rang off the stonework.

"Bring shackles. And the silver chains – we don't want her changing and breaking free."

"Is the pyre ready?"

"Kane told us to wait until the trial, but the pack's getting restless. They want justice now."

"They are summoning blood. Can't blame them. To kill the prince on harvest moon. abominable."

The voices closed in and I understood with increasing horror that they were not to take me in for trial. They were to carry me off to die.

The door closed with a bang, and six pack warriors entered, their faces set in determination. I knew them all – men I'd saved, children I'd blessed, loyalty I'd once demanded.

"No," I gasped, standing in the back of my cell. "Tomorrow's the trial."

Derek, the lead warrior, who'd been a member of my family for years, would not look at me. "Plans changed. Alpha's instructions."

"Corwin wouldn't-"

"Alpha Corwin declares justice delayed is justice denied. The pack must be appeased."

They opened my cell with silver keys that burned my skin where they touched. The handcuffs were cold and heavy, meant to dampen the strength of a werewolf. I was bound, helpless, subject to those who had vowed to guard me.

As they pulled me down the stairs, I saw a face I recognized in the gloom at the top of the steps. Kane stood there, his face serious but mundane.

He did not rescue me. He came to watch.

And then, in crystal clear sight that pierced all my confusion and uncertainty, I finally understood the truth.

It had all been planned by Kane. The proof, the witnesses, even my own skeptical thoughts – all in his design.

Why? What could my husband's closest friend have against me?

I parted my lips to shout out the accusation, to reveal him before they could make me shut up for good. But Kane pulled out his belt, and moonlight reflected off the gleam of a silver blade.

His smile was as chilly as winter as he placed one finger on his lips.

The message was unmistakable: blame him, and he'd make death even more agonizing than intended.

Corwin's POV

My brother's dead body lay across the altar, and I couldn't bring myself to look at his face. Marcus lay sleeping now, recovering from another night of too much wine. His color was off, his lips blue, and the scent of death hovered around him like a shroud.

"Alpha." Kane's voice sliced through my sorrow. "The pack awaits."

I glanced away from Marcus's lifeless form to behold the pack standing in our great hall. All the pack that could stand was there, their faces contorted in rage and hunger for revenge. They craved blood for blood. They craved vengeance on Selene.

My wife. My mate. The woman I had loved for three years with every part of my body.

The woman who'd murdered my brother.

"Tell me again," I said to Kane, my voice rough from hours of shocked grieving. "Tell me what you learned."

Kane's face was sympathetic, gentle. He'd been my friend since childhood, my closest friend. If there was anyone who could guide me through this nightmare, it was he.

"The poison was from her own supplies. Nightshade, pure enough to kill an adult wolf in minutes." He held up the empty vial once more, allowing me to inspect it. "Her fingerprints are on the wine cup of Marcus. Her scent is everywhere in the serving area, and she made a point to tell the servants not to assist with the wine tonight."

"But why?" The words tore from my throat like a yell. "Why would she do that?"

"Power. Succession." Kane's voice was gentle but firm. "With Marcus deceased, any offspring you produce with Selene would be the next in line. No competition."

I wanted to deny it, to remind myself that Kane Selene would never even think of such a thing. But doubt gnawed at me like cancer. She'd been remote, withdrawn in recent days. Frightened of something she wouldn't talk about with me.

"The pack demands justice," Kane continued. "Pack law is precise in terms of the penalty for the killing of an heir."

Death. Slow, public death to serve as an example. The old laws were brutal but clear.

"Raise her up," I finally said to him. "I have to hear her say it myself."

Kane nodded and motioned to the warriors. They descended to the dungeons below, and I braced myself to see my wife. The woman I had shared a bed with for three years. The woman whose laughter could always set everything right.

The woman who had killed my baby brother.

As they pulled Selene in front of them, she was smaller somehow. Her festival dress stained and shredded, red-brown hair knotted around her throat. But her green eyes smouldered with the same fire that I had fallen in love with, and my resolve faltered for a moment.

"Corwin," she panted as they shoved her to her knees in front of the altar. "Tell me you do not believe this."

I glared at her, this woman I'd thought I knew so well. "The evidence-"

"Overlook the evidence!" She shook her head, her voice shattering with desperation. "You know me. You know my heart. I loved Marcus like a brother."

"Did you?" The words were brusquer than I'd intended. "Because it seems to me of late that you've loved nothing but your own ambition."

She flinched as though I'd struck her. "That's not true."

"Is it not? The way in which you've been stirring up the pack changes. Questioning the council's rulings. Thinking you're smarter than the rest of us."

"I was attempting to make our pack stronger."

"Or position yourself for increased power." I approached her slowly, as I would hunt prey. "Tell me, Selene, when did you start plotting this?"

"I plotted nothing! I'm innocent!"

"Then tell me about the poison. Tell me why your scent is on Marcus's cup. Tell me why you sent the servants from the wine table."

"I don't know! Someone is lying. Someone staged evidence."

Who? I demanded. Who would do this?

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. She looked at Kane, then back at me. "I. I don't know yet. But someone did this to me."

"Listen to yourself," Kane murmured. "A grand conspiracy to incriminate this on the Luna? Sounds like a desperate man trying to make a plea, Selene. Sounds like the howl of a man locked in his own cage."

The pack growled in assent. They'd liked Selene before, but murder didn't sit well with them. Now they looked at her as if she were a cancer that had to be excised.

"And motive?" Elder Morrison stepped closer, his face serious. "Why would our Luna kill the prince?"

"I wouldn't," Selene said stubbornly. "There's nothing. No reason."

"No reason?" Morrison unrolled a scroll. "These are the laws of succession, written in our pack's founding charter. When an Alpha dies without heirs, the throne defaults to his next nearest male relative. But if he's dead too."

"It goes to the Alpha's successors," Kane determined. "Even before they are born."

The epiphany hits me like a blow to the gut. Something had happened to me, and Marcus was deceased already; Selene's successors would rule. No one to stand against them.

"I did not want that," Selene breathed, but her words weren't sincere now.

"Weren't you?" I sat down beside him on the floor so that our eyes were on the same level. "When we have talked about having kids, you've always wanted to know what kind of leaders they would be. What kind of legacy we'd be leaving them."

"That's normal! Any mother or father would want to consider their kids' future."

"Not every mother or father kills their way there."

She gazed at me with those green eyes that I once loved, and something in her cracked. The tension on her shoulders just dissipated, and she was ten years older in an instant.

"You really believe I did it," she panted. "The man who promised to love me forever believes that I am a murderer."

"I don't know what to believe anymore." And that was reality. My heart still belonged to her, but my mind could not turn a blind eye to reality. "Help me understand, Selene. Make me believe you're innocent."

For a moment, hope lit in her eyes. Then faded as she understood she had nothing to give. No evidence. No explanation. Nothing save her word against mountains of proof.

"I can't," she whispered. "I don't know how to convince anyone I didn't do it."

The pack shifted uneasily behind us. They were getting impatient, and I could sense the anger rising like steam in a kettle. If I didn't intervene soon, they would have to take the law into their own hands.

"The law is simple," Elder Morrison said. "Killing an heir calls for death. But as Alpha, you may stipulate the means."

The antiquated means of execution would be arduous and public. A lesson to any other who would so much as consider betraying the pack. And then there was the alternative – instantaneous death, mercy out of respect for what we'd once had between us.

I stared at my wife, this stranger who bore Selene's face, and my heart broke all over again.

"I need time to think."

"Corwin," Kane stepped closer, his tone a low growl. "The pack won't give much more time. They've already been talking about taking matters into their own hands."

He was right. I saw it in their eyes – the anger just simmering beneath the surface, the need for immediate vengeance. If I was weak here, if I were seen as a favourite because of my past with Selene, I'd never gain their respect again.

An Alpha who couldn't control his own mate was an Alpha who couldn't protect his pack.

"An hour," I said to the pack. "I'll give my ruling in an hour."

The pack snarled but agreed to this. They began to disperse, but a few of them hung around nearby, not wanting to be out of eyesight of their Luna. Kane posted guards around Selene and motioned for me to follow him to a secret room.

"This is hard," he said to them in private. "But you know what you have to do."

"Do I?" I sat down in a chair, feeling old all of a sudden. "Three years, Kane. For three years, I've loved this woman. Three years, I've trusted her with everything."

"And she destroyed that trust in the worst possible manner."

"Mmmhmm."

I massaged my face with my hands. "But what if she is telling the truth? What if someone set her up?"

"Who? And why?"

Kane leaned across from me, his blue eyes serious. "Use your head, Corwin. Who else had access to her caches of poison? Who else knew Marcus's schedule well enough to target him specifically?"

"Yes, she did behave differently recently," I reluctantly admitted. "More secretive. More. starved of something I couldn't quite place my finger on."

"Power corrupts, even good people. And Selene was always ambitious, even when you first knew her."

That was true. Selene had been so determined to rise above her commoner roots, to show she was worthy to be Luna. Maybe that ambition had perverted.

"The pack needs to know strength from you now," Kane continued. "They have to know that justice is for all, even your wife. Especially your wife."

"And what if I'm mistaken? What if she's actually innocent?"

There was a silence from Kane for a while. "Then we'll accept that responsibility together. But as it is, with what we have, can you really say that you believe she's innocent?"

### I wanted to say yes. All of me who loved Selene wanted to declare her innocent and curse the consequences. But I was Alpha first, then husband. My duty was to the pack, not my heart.

"No," I whispered. "I cannot."

Kane nodded gravely. "Then you know what has to be done."

We were interrupted by a knock at the door. One of the guards entered, his expression serious.

"Alpha, we have a problem. The pack is restless. There's a rumor going around that you're going to let the Luna out. They're threatening to storm the dungeons."

My blood ran cold. "How long do we have?"

"Corwin, minutes, possibly less. Elder Morrison's trying to calm them down, but."

Kane stood up. "We have to do something, Corwin. Before it turns into a riot."

I could hear them now beyond the window – angry voices, the clashing metal of weapons being prepared. My pack, my people, on the verge of chaos because they thought that I would sacrifice justice for love.

"Bring her up," I said, my voice dry in my throat. "Bring her up now."

As the guard sprinted away to retrieve Selene, Kane put a hand on my shoulder. "You're doing the right thing. History will justify you as the Alpha who chose duty over personal feelings."

"Will it?" I stared at my oldest friend, this man who'd seen me through every disaster. "Because right now I feel like I'm going to murder the woman I love."

"Bad choices sometimes accompany leadership," Kane stated softly. "That's what makes you a harder man than other men."

The door creaked open, and they pushed Selene inside. She looked at my face and saw her death in it. Her shoulders squared, and for a moment, she was the proud Luna I'd married.

"So you've come to a decision," she said softly.

"The evidence-"

"The evidence lies." Her voice was now stern, resigned but not defeated. "But I see you've made up your mind to believe them anyway."

"Selene."

"No." She raised her chained hands to halt me. "Don't make this worse than it has to be. Don't even attempt to pretend that this hurts you when you've already made up your mind."

But it wasn't easy. It was squeezing me dry from the inside out. I ached to reach out and take her and run, to somewhere that we could start anew. But the weight of leadership, of responsibility to my pack, hung around my shoulders like shackles.

"I sentence you to death," I whispered. "For the murder of Prince Marcus."

She nodded as if she'd expected no other result. "When?"

"Dawn. It will be. swift."

"Thank you for that much." She looked at me once more, and I realized something I hadn't expected in her green eyes. Not hate or betrayal, but pity. "I hope one day you find the truth, Corwin. I hope you'll be able to live with what you've done when you realize how wrong you are."

As they pulled her back, Kane hit me on the back. "It's done. The pack will honor you for this."

I didn't feel, however, like a honoured pack leader. I felt like a man who'd signed his own death warrant and his wife's.

Because somewhere in my heart, in an area I didn't want to explore, I was starting to believe that Selene was telling the truth.

And if she was, I'd just murdered an innocent woman for my brother's death.

The real killer still roamed free, and I'd never even know who they were.

Selene's POV

The dungeon felt chillier now that I knew I'd never leave it alive. Dawn was just a few hours away, and with it, my demise. I sat on the wet straw, gazing up at the stone walls that would be my last sight.

My fingers shook, but not with fear. Fury ran through me like flames, hot and consuming. Not at Corwin – he was as much a pawn as the rest. My rage was for Kane, the man who had orchestrated this perfect destruction of my existence.

Why? What had I ever done to him to deserve this?

I tried to think back over the years, searching for some slight or hurt that I might have caused him. Kane had always been polite to me, respectful, even. He'd helped my marriage to Corwin and defended me when pack members mocked my lowly birth.

Or had he? I remembered now that Kane's defense had always contained veiled jibes. "Selene has no Alpha blood, but she's caught on well enough." "The Luna's low birth gives certain insight into pack issues universal to all."

Always keeping everyone in mind that I was not a part of it. Always making sure they remembered I was not like them.

Footsteps echoed down the stone staircase, and I tensed. But it was not the executioner come to escort me prematurely to the gallows. It was Sarah, the small servant who had testified against me. She carried a tray of food and water, her pale face strained.

"Luna," she whispered, setting the tray just outside my cell. "I brought you some food."

"I'm not hungry."

"Please. You must keep your strength up."

I laughed harshly. "For what? My death?"

Sarah winced. "Don't say that. Maybe the Alpha will reconsider. Maybe-"

"Sarah." I moved to the bars. "What you said I forbade you to help with the wine. You certain that's what happened?"

The girl's eyes dropped from mine. "I. I was telling the truth."

"Did you? Because I don't remember that conversation at all."

"Memory's strange when you're under stress," Sarah said quickly. "Beta Kane told us all about that. Folks don't always recall things they've done."

Kane, the hundredth time. Kane with his rational explanations.

"Listen to me," I commanded, using the Luna voice I'd accumulated over three years of ordering.

Sarah's eyes darted to mine against her will. I saw fear there, and guilt, and something else. Something that looked almost like.

"Who instructed you to say that?" I asked softly.

"No one. I mean, I just remembered-"

"Sarah. You've been working in my home for two years. You understand that I would never abandon my duties in the midst of a festival. You understand that I always help with the ceremonial wine."

Tears started to flow down the girl's face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Tell me the truth. Who instructed you to lie?"

"I can't." She moved back from the bars. "He threatened. he threatened that my family would be exiled if I did not comply. My little brother is not well. We require the protection of the pack."

My heart sank even as hope sprouted. "Kane threatened you."

Sarah shook her head pathetically. "He said you were dangerous. That you'd killed the prince and would kill others if we didn't do something to stop you. He said it wasn't lying to keep from telling the truth in order to protect the pack."

"And you trusted him?"

"I didn't know what to believe. The evidence seemed so clear. And Beta Kane is always someone we can count on. Why would he lie about something like that?"

That was the question, wasn't it? Why would Kane kill me so completely?

"Sarah, listen to me. I didn't murder Marcus. You are being led to falsely accuse me of murder. When the truth comes out-"

"The truth?" Sarah swiped at her eyes. "Luna, you will be dead at dawn. What truth could possibly matter now?"

Before I could say a word, other footsteps descended the stairs. Heavy boots. Several sets. Sarah grabbed her tray and fled, leaving me to deal with three figures who entered the dungeon.

Kane was at the lead, followed by Elder Morrison and the pack's executioner, a huge man named Garrett who handled the pack's dirtiest business. They stood in front of my cell, their faces grim in the light of the torches.

"It's time," Kane declared.

"Dawn is still two hours away."

"Plans were changed. The pack becomes restless. Alpha Corwin thought it was best to handle this quietly, before emotions get out of control."

I stood up slowly, legs shaking but voice firm. "How considerate of him."

Kane unlocked my cell with silver keys, and Garrett stepped forward with chains to restrain my wolf. Metal burned against my skin as they encircled my wrists and ankles.

"Last words?" Morrison requested, his voice proper and cold.

"Yes." I stared directly at Kane. "I know what you did."

His expression did not change. "You poisoned Prince Marcus. That's what I did – I found the evidence and brought a murderer to justice."

"You planted the evidence. You intimidated the witnesses. You staged the entire thing."

"Grief does funny things to people's minds," Kane said sorrowfully. "Sometimes they create complicated fantasies so they don't have to face their guilt."

"Then say this," I said as they began to drag me towards the stairs. "Why? What did I ever do to make you so angry with me?"

For a moment, Kane's mask fell. I saw something dark and hungry flash across his blue eyes. "You were there," he whispered. "That was enough."

They pulled me up the stairs and through the empty corridors of the pack house. All were asleep or engaged in avoiding the unpleasant chore of execution. We emerged into the night, and I saw the hastily erected platform in the central courtyard.

There was a chopping block in the center, dark stains already marking the wood. Garrett's axe stood against it, its blade so sharp the light of the moon reflected off of it. At least it would be quick.

"Where's Corwin?" I asked as they shoved me toward the platform.

"The Alpha didn't feel like he needed to be present at the execution," Morrison replied. "He thought that it would be. too difficult."

Even so, even after sentencing me to death, Corwin could not let me be killed. Half of me was relieved. Half of me seethed that he could sentence me and not suffer the consequence of his sentence.

They pushed me to my knees beside the block. Garrett came up, his face hidden behind an executioner's hood. His hands were unshaking as he lifted the axe, balancing it in his palm.

"Any final prayers to the moon goddess?" Morrison asked.

I let my head fall back to look at the blood moon still hanging in the air. The same one that had witnessed Marcus's death. The same one that would now witness my death.

"Goddess," I breathed, "if you can hear me, do not make my death meaningless. Let the truth unravel somehow. Let justice catch the actual killer."

"Nice words," Kane shot back. "But the real murderer is going to get what she deserves."

I closed my eyes and prepared for impact. At least my suffering would soon be at an end. At least I would never have to suffer Corwin's treachery, nor the pack's scorn.

But the killing blow never came.

Instead, I heard Morrison gasp in air. "What in the goddess's name-"

I woke up to the presence of a figure emerging from the darkness at the edge of the courtyard. An elderly woman, hunched and frail, with silver hair that glimmered in the moonlight. She wore the white robes of a moon priestess, and her eyes glowed with an otherworldly light.

"Stay," she ordered, her voice ringing out despite her apparent frailty. "You are about to condemn an innocent woman to death."

Garrett let his axe fall, stunned. Morrison and Kane exchanged glances, seemingly unsure of what to do with this situation.

"Thalia, Priestess," Morrison said uncertainly. "Pack business. The temple doesn't have authority here."

"The temple is governing wherever justice is at stake." Thalia stepped closer, and I saw she was older than I'd assumed. Ancient, actually, with parchment-like skin and bones that looked too thin to hold her up. "This woman did not murder Prince Marcus."

"The evidence indicates otherwise," Kane said smoothly. "And with all due respect, Priestess, you weren't around when the crime was committed. You can't possibly know-"

"I have resources you cannot imagine, little Beta." Thalia's gaze fell upon Kane, and he stepped away from her. "The goddess of the moon speaks truth to those who are devoted to her true. And the truth is that Selene is innocent."

Hope flared in my chest like a fire being lit. Someone believed me. Someone with influence and credibility was defending me.

But Kane recovered quickly. "Even so, the law has already been summoned. The Alpha has weighed in. You have no right to intervene."

"Don't I?" Thalia smiled, and there was something reckless in her smile. "Tell me, Beta Kane, are you familiar with the ancient laws? The ones from centuries past, even before your pack was formed?"

Kane's confidence slipped a bit. "What ancient laws?"

"The law of sanctuary. When a priestess of the moon lays claim to an innocent for the goddess' protection, no mortal authority can override the claim." Thalia moved forward to stand at my side, her bony hand coming down on my shoulder. "I claim sanctuary for this woman."

Morrison's face was perplexed. "I've never heard of such a law."

"Because it has not been employed for three centuries. But it is, in the most ancient works, sanctified by the goddess herself." Thalia's voice grew firmer, more commanding. "You cannot harm her with the moon goddess protecting her."

"This is ridiculous," Kane barked. "You can't simply appear out of nowhere and claim some ancient right-"

"Can't I?" Thalia raised her unmuffled hand, and the silver moon above them flared with light. The beam struck us directly, illuminating the courtyard as brightly as day. "The goddess herself proves my point."

Even Kane stood awestruck before such blatant divine intervention. Garrett set his axe down entirely, not willing to risk the anger of the moon goddess.

"What do you want?" Morrison finally spoke.

"Time," answered Thalia bluntly. "Time to get this woman's name cleared. Give me three days, and I'll tell you who really killed Prince Marcus."

"Three days?" Kane laughed, but it was not a joyful sound. "Within three days she could escape. She could disappear forever."

"She will not leave my side," Thalia vowed. "I stake my life and my sacred promises on her remaining. If she flees, you can kill both of us."

The old woman was staking everything for a stranger like me. I stared at her in amazement, wondering why she must do this.

Morrison was conflicted. "This is wildly irregular. The Alpha will have to approve any postponement of the execution."

"Wake him," Thalia ordered. "Wake him and inform him that the moon goddess herself has acted to stay his justice. Inform him that killing an innocent woman who is under the goddess's protection would curse his entire pack."

Kane's mouth moved to protest, but Morrison was already shaking his head. He was old enough to recall the tales of the consequences when packs crossed the moon goddess directly.

"Yes, but she's still in custody. Sanctuary or not, she's still a murder suspect."

"Agreed." Thalia assisted me to my feet, her grip unexpectedly firm for such a thin, fragile-looking woman. "But she accompanies me to the temple. That is where sanctuary is offered."

As they unbound my chains, I glanced at Kane. His face was a mask of rage held only by sheer strength of will. Whatever plan he had devised, this ancient priestess had just turned it around.

"Three days," he told me quietly, his words spoken only for my ears. "Enjoy them. Because when your guardian fails to make you innocent, I'll make your death as unpleasant as it would be otherwise tonight."

Thalia must have overheard him, because she turned around and fixed Kane with a stare that made him look pale.

"Watch your step, young Beta," she said softly. "The goddess sees all. Even our crimes we think are hidden in the darkness."

As she led me off the execution dais into the forest path to the temple of the moon, I couldn't but wish for the first time since this nightmare began.

But I also asked myself: who was this mysterious priestess, and why had she known I was innocent?

Above all, what would she demand in return for saving my life?