Chapter 153
ATASHA’S POV
Lady Kenneth’s smile didn’t soften. “I’ve heard the rumors about Lady Celeste’s sister,” she said pleasantly. “That she never awakened her wolf. Then I heard she married the Northern Lord, and now there is to be a public testing.” Her head tilted, like she was filing it under pity. “That news would break Lady Celeste’s heart.”
She’d been doing it since she sat down, calling me “Celeste’s sister,” circling back to my sister in every other sentence, as if my name needed a chaperone.
“I’m sure it would,” I replied, keeping my voice even. “Celeste always worried too much about me. She never liked it when people overstepped.” I let the word sit there, mild on the surface, pointed underneath.
For the first time, a line appeared between Lady Kenneth’s brows. It was gone a second later. She turned to her aide instead of answering me. “Bring it,” she said.
The doors opened. Six men entered in two rows. They carried a long, reinforced chest on iron poles, the kind used for royal tributes.
The wood was stained black, lacquered to a dull sheen, and banded in dark red metal that had been etched with small, repeating symbols. The hinges were thick. The lock plate was heavier than anything I’d seen on a traveling coffer. Every step made the floorboards groan.
They set it down on the carpet with practiced care.
Then Lady Kenneth’s attention slid toward me, then drifted back to the chest with a satisfied look. “The Stone of the Goddess is not easily moved,” she said. “Even for us. Two werewolves can’t lift it on their own. The weight is… significant.” She glanced at the carriers as if to remind the room who had accomplished the task. “For the journey, it’s bound with faestones to help us transport it with ease and sealed under the King’s authority. The protections are standard at the Capital for artifacts of this nature.”
Up close, I could see the “faestones” set into the bands. They looked dull, milky pieces embedded like knuckles, each one steadying the faint hum coming off the chest. The air around it felt denser, as if the room had lost a little space.
Next to me, Cassian’s posture looked casual, but the bond told me he was watching everything. The placements, the pattern of the etchings, the way Lady Kenneth positioned herself slightly between the chest
and me.
Her aide produced a narrow case and opened it to reveal three keys on separate rings, each a different metal, iron, silver, and something black that didn’t reflect the light. Lady Kenneth took the black one first.
“The faestones anchor the seal,” she said, glancing at me as if this were a lesson. “They dampen interference and repel tampering. The Stone doesn’t respond to ordinary magic, of course. The Goddess doesn’t lend her name to toys.” The corner of her mouth lifted. “Only those granted authority can open it. In this case, myself, by order of His Majesty.”
I smoothed my palm over the table, steadying the small thrum under my skin. “That’s very reassuring,” I said. “It would be such a shame if something so sacred fell into the wrong hands.”
Chapter 153
There was another tiny pause, another flicker in her eyes. I expected her to say something to praise the King for choosing her as an envoy but instead, she stepped forward and fitted the first key into the lock plate.
The mechanism didn’t click so much as settle, the faestones around the band dimmed and then resumed their faint glow. She switched keys, moved to the second slot, then the third.
When the final key turned, a faint hiss of cold air escaped the seam, like the chest had exhaled after holding its breath for too long. Lady Kenneth’s hand stayed on the lid, but she didn’t open it. Her gaze shifted toward
Cassian.
“The testing must be done under a full moon,” she said, her tone almost ceremonial. “That’s when the Stone is at its strongest. By the King’s calculation, the next full moon will rise in seven nights. Until then, the chest remains sealed.”
Cassian’s eyes flicked from the box to her hand, then to me. “We’ll proceed when the moon is up,” he said.
Lady Kenneth gave a polite nod. Her aide immediately stepped back half a pace.
Meanwhile, I forced my shoulders to stay straight, my face unreadable. But the moment the air shifted, I felt it, the faint pull from within the chest, brushing against my senses like a hum beneath the skin. It was the same presence I’d felt when the stone vanished from my hand, only now it was quieter, restrained, as though it was waiting for something… or someone.
Lady Kenneth’s smile deepened. “The North has waited long enough for truth,” she said. “When the full moon rises, it will have it.”
Then out of nowhere, pain shot through me without warning. It wasn’t sharp or localized, it tore through everything at once, hot and blinding, like my veins were burning from the inside out. My breath caught, my fingers curled against the table, and for a second, I couldn’t move.
Then, just as suddenly, it was gone.
I blinked, frozen in place. My body felt normal again. My healing ability hadn’t even activated. It didn’t need to. The pain had vanished before it could.
Slowly, I looked up. Lady Kenneth was watching me. Her expression was calm, but her eyes were fixed on me in a way that made the back of my neck tighten.
Was she expecting something to happen?
I straightened my posture and forced a faint smile, careful not to show how unsettled I was. “You’re right,” I said evenly. “When the full moon rises, we’ll finally have the truth.”
Lady Kenneth’s lips curved again, but this time there was satisfaction in it, like she’d gotten the reaction she
wanted.
I turned toward Cassian. His face was composed, cold even, but the bond betrayed him. Something wasn’t right. The same heat that had rushed through me earlier now throbbed faintly at the edge of our connection. It felt like a shadow of the pain that had hit me, but this time, it was coming from him.
My stomach twisted. His words from before echoed in my head. “The bond lets us feel each other’s pain.
