Chapter 110: A decree from the court council

Alyssa was waiting restlessly in the center of the living room when Dorian finally stepped out of his study.

Just minutes ago, Conri had emerged alone. Alyssa still couldn’t decipher the strange, unreadable look he had cast toward her, nor the sharp, mocking nod he had thrown in her direction before vanishing past the main entrance.

The moment Dorian appeared in the living room, she hurried to meet him, her heart hammering against her ribs. "What happened? What did he say?"

Dorian reached out, slipping his hands around her waist. He held her tight, his jaw clenched as he wrestled with the choice of telling her the truth or not.

In the end, he chose the truth. He had already sworn never to keep secrets from her again.

"He knows what you are," he said softly.

Alyssa’s eyes widened in shock. She swallowed nervously, a cold knot tightening in her throat as a hundred terrifying possibilities raced through her mind.

"How did he find out?" she asked after a long, breathless pause, her voice trembling slightly. "What if... what if he blackmails you with it?"

The bastard was already doing precisely that, but Dorian kept it to himself. There was no need to pile more terror onto her shoulders when she was already visibly shaken.

"He won’t," he assured her. "I have everything under control, my love. Apparently, he got the information from Reynold, Samantha’s father, who got it from your stepmother before she died."

Alyssa’s gaze flickered up in sudden realization, her breath hitching. "Did Reynold..."

"Yes," Dorian confirmed gently, answering her unfinished question before it could fully leave her lips. "Reynold is the one who killed her. I’m sorry you had to find out this way, my love."

Alyssa shook her head slowly, looking down as she absorbed the news. "It’s okay. The only person I feel a little sad for in all of this is Melinda, losing her mother like that. But what about Reynold?"

"Reynold needs to be locked up before he strikes again. According to Conri, Reynold was behind the shapeshifter incident."

Alyssa searched his face for a long moment, studying the hard angles of his jaw. "But you don’t actually believe what your uncle said, do you?"

"I don’t believe a single word that comes out of his mouth," Dorian muttered. "Conri is known for manipulating every information to serve his own twisted agenda. For all we know, he is merely using Reynold’s name to cover his own tracks."

"Well, what are we going to do now?"

Dorian took her hand in his, lacing his fingers through hers, and led her out of the living room onto the front porch.

"I have everything under control," he explained. "First, Reynold needs to be captured and silenced. And my uncle needs to be placed under constant surveillance."

He paused, sweeping his eyes over the quiet driveway. "Where’s Jake and everyone else?"

"At the training grounds," Alyssa answered. "I didn’t go down with them because I was too nervous to find out why Conri came. Though deep down, a part of me already knew his visit had something to do with me. I guess my instinct was right."

Dorian pulled her closer and pressed a soft kiss into her hair. "You know I’m going to protect you with everything I have, right? You are safe with me."

She closed her eyes, letting out a long sigh as she melted into his warmth. "I know that."

He gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand before lifting her chin to meet his gaze. "Once this nightmare is over, you will never have to live in fear again. I promise you."

She snuggled back into his chest as he embraced her tightly, inhaling the rich, intoxicating scent of pine and rain that belonged solely to him, the only anchor capable of soothing the storm in her heart.

"What do we do now?" she whispered softly.

Dorian stroked her hair in slow, rhythmic motions as he replied. "I still plan to send for your stepsister. She may hold key details regarding your heritage. But you don’t have to be in the same room when she arrives if it makes you uncomfortable."

"I’ll be there," Alyssa murmured, lifting her head to gaze into his eyes. "I told you before that I won’t let my life be dictated by fear. Melinda cannot hurt me anymore, so I have no reason to hide from her."

A wave of intense pride swelled in Dorian’s chest. He pressed another kiss to her hair, deeply impressed by how much bolder, stronger, and more resolute she had become.

His eyes fogged slightly as he opened the mind-link. [Jake?]

Jake answered almost instantly, his voice clear over the link. [Yes, Alpha? We’re down at the training grounds.]

[I know. I need you to dispatch a dozen guards immediately to apprehend Reynold Bennington. Lock him up in the dungeon the moment he is brought in. I intend to question him personally.]

​[Understood, Alpha.]

[One more thing. Send André and Cade to the south. I want Alyssa’s stepsister dragged here. I have questions for her as well.]

[Copy that. What about your cousin, Fabian?]

[What about him?]

[He is mated to Alyssa’s stepsister. Naturally, he will demand to come with her.]

[Keep him away. I haven’t socialized with his branch of the family for decades, and I intend to keep it that way. Instruct André to handle it cleanly.]

[Understood, Alpha. I’m dispatching the units now.]

Dorian severed the mind-link and shifted his focus back to Alyssa. He decided this was the right moment to inform her of the concession he had been forced to make with Conri.

"There is something else I need to tell you," he began gently, his tone cautious. "It concerns an arrangement I had to make with Conri."

Alyssa pulled back slightly, her brow furrowing as she searched his face. "What kind of arrangement?"

"In exchange for keeping his mouth shut regarding your Hybrid identity, he demanded that his children be reinstated into the royal hierarchy."

That made her frown deepen. "What does that mean?"

"It means they will be granted official royal titles and positions within the kingdom," Dorian explained carefully. "Which means you will be seeing a lot more of them around the estate."

Alyssa’s heart gave a sudden, wild lurch in her chest. The haunting memory of her confrontation with Joffrey and his sisters at the city mall flashed vividly through her mind.

"As long as they stay away from me, I don’t care," she said firmly. "I won’t bother them, and they had better not bother me."

An amused smile touched Dorian’s lips. "I think you are forgetting something vital, my love. You are the Queen. They answer directly to you. If they dare step out of line or bother you in any way, you have the authority to punish them however you see fit."

Alyssa let out a soft, breathless laugh and shook her head. Sometimes, she genuinely forgot the power that came with being the Luna of Wintercrest.

"I will keep that in mind," she grinned.

Just then, the footsteps of an estate guard echoed across the driveway. The guard hurried up the steps, stopping a respectful distance away to bow deeply before holding out a sealed document.

"Good morning, Alpha, Luna," he greeted formally. "This just arrived directly from the court council. They marked it urgent and stated they expect your response within three days."

Dorian released Alyssa’s waist and took the document. The guard bowed once more and quickly retreated back to his post.

"What does it say?" Alyssa asked eagerly, leaning closer.

Dorian broke the council seal and opened the first page, scanning the elegant script written inside. The further his eyes traveled down the page, the darker his expression became, his jaw locking in a terrifying display of suppressed fury.

But for Alyssa’s sake, he forced his posture to remain calm.

​"It is a decree from the council elders," he said, his voice tightly controlled. "They are demanding an official introduction of you, and they want to host a second Moon Ceremony to present you publicly to the whole of Wintercrest."

"Oh," Alyssa murmured, surprised. "Well, that doesn’t sound too terrible. But why do you look so furious?"

Dorian didn’t give her a direct answer. He merely brushed her concern aside with a soft stroke down her back, taking her hand and leading her back inside the mansion.

What he deliberately kept hidden from her was the paragraph written at the very bottom of the document; a warning that the court council had already received a tip from Reynold, claiming the Luna was a monstrous Hybrid, and that an official tribunal was being assembled to investigate her bloodline.

Reynold, the bloody bastard, had actually confessed everything about Alyssa to the court council.

If the council confirmed the rumors and declared Alyssa a Hybrid, Dorian knew the penalty was immediate execution, and he didn’t even want to envision the bloodbath he would unleash to burn the kingdom to the ground before letting them lay a single finger on his wife.