Aurora's POV
My hands and legs were bound as I stood before the entire pack for judgment. My supposed brother – Kylian, was seated on my father's throne, his mother – my step mother sat by his side.
I had been locked up in the dungeon for days, starved and finally it was my time to be judged.
I went from being a princess, the heir to the Alpha's seat to a dungeon prisoner with cow pies as my clothing. Persecuted for a crime I knew nothing about. My fate lied in the hands of Kylian and his puppeteer mother who had orchestrated all of these.
Funny, that day was supposed to be my coronation but yet it was still going to mark another meaningful day of my life; my death.
Anger filled my heart because I knew it was a coup well planned. I had hope because I knew one person wouldn't give up on me.
I trusted him the most, my mate, Alphonso. My eyes searched for him in the gathering but he was nowhere to be found.
"Enough." Kylian stood up,gesturing with his hands to restore decorum among the crowd.
"I know many of you are already aware of the reason for this assembly," Kylian's voice floated through the air, causing all sorts of movements and whispers to end.
"It is a sad week for us, as we still mourn the death of our great Alpha, my father, but we cannot overlook the necessary arrangements to be made after his passing."
I treated him with nothing but kindness and love from the first day they came into our home. I cherished him like my blood, never once saw him otherwise. But that moment, he stood before me as my judge, jury and executioner.
"Greed is a very poisonous desire," He continued, his voice stern with a fierce gaze.
"My sister welcomed that greed. Impatient to wait for her time, impatient to calm the nerves of her lust for power and control. She killed a man that brought her into this world to achieve that power, a man we loved, a man I loved,"
His words sparked murmurs and foul words from the people. Their eyes blaze with anger as they shame me with abuse.
"Cursed child," they called me.
"Abomination,"
It was astonishing how fast a person could change. I remembered getting gratitudes and praises from these same people but now I am being tongue-lashed.
"Silence!" Kylian blurted and they heeded instantly.
"It was impossible to believe such an accusation at first but I had to because someone witnessed this atrocity. Someone who saw Aurora murder her father,"
"Liar!" I shot to my feet, yanking hard against the chains as I lunged toward Kylian, desperate to crush his head where he stood. The restraints clanged and jerked me back, stopping me just feet from him as armed guards rushed in. My eyes locked onto his, burning with fury.
"You and your treacherous mother planned this!" I spat angrily , my ankles almost splitting apart from the force I applied in trying to set myself free.
"I will never hurt my father. I would never!"
At that point, I confirmed my suspicions. They killed my father and now they were trying to rope it around my neck.
"You can't prove anything because there is nothing to prove. I am not taking the fall for you," I said calmly as I took steps back. My vision had begun to blur from weakness, my legs quaking where they stood.
"How dare you think I would do such a thing?" Tears gathered in his eyes as he tried to blink them back. His theatrics only fueled my rage but it made the people even more convinced.
"I loved father, I loved you. I wouldn't point fingers when I have nothing to back it up. The witness came forward with proof,"
From the look on their faces, I was sure he had a witness. Whose testimony could hold water in the Court against me?
"Ofcourse sister, this is a fair court. You could always present the evidence to back up your innocence," Kylian said to me.
There was none I could think of. I was with my father when he died, that was incriminating enough.
I took another look around, searching for Alphonso but he was nowhere in sight.
"The court recognizes the silence as an absence of evidence, so __"
"So what?" I asked, interrupting him before he could finish his statement.
"So I'm guilty. You have no proof as well,"
"I have proof," A voice that sent shivers up my spine spoke right behind me. I didn't want my eyes to confirm it, I was terrified to face him. The crowd gasped when he spoke, his approaching footsteps echoed in the hall until he walked up beside me.
"I have proof that my mate murdered the Alpha for her greed and lust for power,"
He spoke firmly and when I turned to him, the look on his face shattered my heart.
"Why?" I asked Alphonso.
"What did they offer you to betray me?"
With a fiery look, he retorted,"They don't have to offer me anything, I can't see the truth and turn a blind eye. You murdered our leader, you yearn to push our clan to war. For fame? For wealth?"
"You liar!" I roared furiously as I sprang towards him. I was just an inch away from him, stopped by the chains that bound me.
The eyes of a man I laid beside, the eyes of the man I loved, stabbing me in the back.
"Everyone, this is Alphonso," Kylian spoke as he climbed up to the Alpha throne.
"The mate to the accused as some of you may know. A few days ago, he came looking for me to confess what he had seen. His selflessness helped us uncover this criminal."
I fell to my knees, my weakened body trembled as the void in my heart became endless. I couldn't even muster the courage or strength to raise my head.
"I loved Aurora but her hunger to rule overshadowed her love for me. True, we are mates but our bond couldn't satisfy her, only power could,"
All I heard was his voice, nothing else. His voice and my own heart racing with anguish. Strange, that the one I held hope on was the same person that swung the sword that would end my life.
I looked up to see the hateful gaze from the people. Their lips moved but I couldn't make out the words from the loud buzz in my head. My mind slowly descended into madness as I took in the fury burning in their eyes.
"Guards!" Kylian's voice broke through the noise in my head.
"Its time to pass judgement. But first, do you have anything to add, mother?"
The room became silent, everyone turned to the serpent seating by my father's throne.
"She killed my lover, let her meet her fate," She muttered and her son nodded in agreement.
"Aurora, you took a way a great man from the world because of greed. You will face a shameful death, executed and dumped like a bandit," He declared.
Instinctively, a smile crawled on my lips. The smile slowly progressed into an outburst of laughter that made everyone gasp and wonder in shock. The fright that came upon Alphonso was almost satisfactory.
"What's funny about your shame?" Kylian asked with a pitiful look.
"We have a goddess that sees our heart, our truth. I will be avenged! The truth shall come out!" I spat out of rage.
"Take her away," He condemned me. Two huge men removed my chains from the pillar where I was bound and pulled me out of the Great Room.
"All of you will burn! You will all burn, I promise you!" I voiced loudly as they dragged me out. Alphonso's face was the last I saw before I exited.
That face locked in my mind, the hate in my soul and my vengeance in my heart. I held on to that as they yanked me by hair and sent a dagger through my heart.
…
People say death comes like a breeze but I witnessed something different. A strange burning sensation accompanied with the sound of a bird in the sky.
It might have been my imagination but a flying bird in fire flew over my head in the woods where I laid dead. Its light burnt bright like the sun but the sensation was almost freezing.
"No!" I blurted when I jolted awake in the dead of the night. My chest was burning with ache but no wounds. I looked around in disarray, my head hurting as flashes of a man with silver eyes burnt into my being. He was wearing a coat made of bear skin, an axe tattoo on his back.
I looked around in confusion because everything looked different. The trees smelled different
, I wasn't around my pack anymore. I was somewhere else and then the troubling question came to mind.
"How am I alive?"