Chapter 121 The second trial passed 2

Chapter 121: Chapter 121 The second trial passed 2

Talia’s POV

Kaelen’s hand tightened around mine. "They see you now," he said quietly. "They finally see you."

I did not know what to say, so I said nothing. I just walked forward, with Kaelen beside me, and the wolves parted to let us through.

They moved like water flowing around us, and making a path, as their eyes followed me.

Some of them were smiling, and others had tears in their eyes. I did not know them, and I did not know their names or their stories, but they knew mine. They had heard what I did, they had seen the blood on my clothes, and I knew that, they were proud of me.

Alpha Aldric stood at the front of the hall.

His old eyes were sharp, and his silver hair was combed back from his face. He wore a dark grey jacket with the Shadowfang crest on the chest, and he looked every bit the former Alpha he had been.

He waited until Kaelen and I reached the front of the room. Then he raised his hand, and the hall went silent.

"The Trial of the Heart is complete," Alpha Aldric announced. His voice carried across the room, strong and clear despite his age. "Talia has passed."

Murmurs spread through the crowd. Alpha Aldric raised his hand again, and the murmurs died down.

"She protected a pack member from harm," Alpha Aldric continued. "She did not use hidden powers. She fought three rogues alone, and she carried a wounded wolf to the healers herself."

The wolves listened in silence. I could feel their eyes on me, hundreds of eyes, all watching, and all waiting.

"The Luna has proven herself," Aldric said. "Not because she is the Alpha’s mate. But because she is strong."

He turned to face the crowd, and his voice grew harder. "Anyone who questions her place in this pack may speak now."

No one spoke.

The silence stretched across the hall, thick and heavy. I held my breath, and Kaelen’s hand was still wrapped around mine, warm and steady.

I looked around, and I saw the people smiling, some were giving silent signs to each other, but no one spoke.

Aldric nodded. "Then it is settled. Talia has earned her place as Luna of Shadowfang Pack."

The wolves bowed again, and this time, someone cheered.

The sound was small at first.

It started with one voice, then someone else cheered, then it continued, until the whole room was cheering for me; for the girl from Cresswood, and for the servant who had become Luna.

I wanted to cry, I wanted to laugh, and I wanted to run and hide at the same time.

But I did none of those things.

Instead, I just stood there, and I let them cheer. Soon, the whole room filled with wolves erupted in applause.

I stood in the center of the hall with Kaelen beside me, and I felt something shift in the room. The way the wolves looked at me was different now, softer, and with respect.

All because I had earned my place.

I looked around the room at all the faces watching me. These were wolves who had ignored me, wolves who had whispered about me, and wolves who had looked at me like I was a problem Kaelen would eventually get rid of.

Now they were smiling at me, and now they were cheering for me.

It felt strange. I had spent so long being invisible that I did not know how to be seen. But now, I was learning it day by day, and wound by wound. I was learning that I deserved to take up space in this world, and that I deserved to be here.

For fifteen years, I had been hiding, I had been shrinking, and it had been years of making myself small so no one would notice me, and so no one would hurt me.

But I was done shrinking, I was done hiding, and I was done making myself small. I deserved to take up space, I deserved to be seen, and I deserved to be here.

Through the cheers, loud applause, and lots of smiles, I looked around, trying to memorize everyone’s face gratefully.

Then I saw her.

Serena was standing near the back wall, half-hidden in the shadows. Her face was calm. To be honest, it was too calm, like a mask she had glued into place. But her eyes were burning, and her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.

She was not bowing, she was not cheering, and she was not respecting me.

Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and her shoulders were tight, and the way she looked at me, with that frozen smile and those burning eyes, made my skin crawl.

There was something in her posture, something in the way she held herself so still while everyone else moved and cheered and bowed. She was not part of this celebration, she was separate, apart, and watching from the outside like a predator waiting for its prey to weaken.

I had seen that look before on Vivienne’s face, and on Celeste’s face. It was the look of someone who wanted me gone.

I held her gaze for a moment. She did not look away, and neither did I. Then Kaelen tugged my hand, and I turned away from her.

But I knew.

I knew she would not forget this day, I knew she would not forgive me for taking what she wanted, and I knew, deep in my bones, that this was not over.

Serena was watching, and I knew she was waiting for a moment of weakness to strike.

But I had survived Vivienne, Celeste, and three rogues in the forest. So I would survive Serena too.

Whatever she was planning, and whatever she was waiting for, I would be ready for it all. I had not come this far to fall now, and I would not let her take this victory and position from me.

Not today, and not ever.