Aria's POV
They threw me into the dungeon beneath the ballroom.
I hit stone floor hard enough to taste blood. Above, music started again. Laughter echoed through the ceiling. My engagement party continued without me—like I'd never existed at all.
Get up. Commander Thorne kicked my ribs. You're not done performing yet.
Two guards hauled me to my feet. My silver dress—the one I'd spent weeks choosing—was torn and dirty. Blood dripped from my split lip onto white silk.
They dragged me back upstairs. Not to the ballroom. To the Judgment Hall.
The crowd had moved. Three hundred guests now filled the stone chamber where the Council held trials. Except this wasn't a trial. Trials required evidence. Defense. Justice.
This was an execution dressed up in legal words.
Supreme Councilor Matthias sat on his throne at the front, ancient and terrifying. The other Council members flanked him—eleven powerful wolves who controlled the Seven Territories.
Father stood to the side, his face still purple with rage. Wouldn't even look at me.
And there, in the front row, sat Lyanna and Damon. Side by side. Her hand rested on his knee.
How long? How long had they been together behind my back?
Bring the accused forward, Matthias commanded.
The guards shoved me to the center of the room. I stumbled but stayed standing. I wouldn't fall. Wouldn't give them that satisfaction.
Aria Silverthorn— Matthias began.
That's my name, I interrupted. My voice echoed off stone walls. I am Beta-born. My parents died in the border wars when I was two. Lord Marcus Silverthorn adopted me. Everything else is a lie.
Bold words from a fraud. Matthias gestured to Thorne. Present the evidence.
Thorne stepped forward with a stack of papers. Birth certificate showing the accused was born to Omega parents in the outer territories. Records of her real mother's death shortly after childbirth. Father unknown.
She laid each document on the evidence table.
Correspondence between the accused and various clerks, paying them to hide her true bloodline. Forged certificates claiming Beta heritage. And most damning— Thorne held up a leather journal. The accused's own diary, detailing her deception.
My stomach dropped. That's not my diary.
It has your handwriting. Thorne opened it and read aloud. 'Father would disown me if he knew the truth. But I've come too far to stop now. Once I marry Damon, no one can touch me. I'll have everything I deserve, and no one will ever know I'm really Omega-born trash.'
Gasps filled the chamber.
I never wrote that! I screamed. Someone forged it! Can't you see? Someone's setting me up!
Who? Matthias asked calmly. Who would go to such elaborate lengths to destroy you?
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Because I didn't know. Yesterday, I thought everyone loved me. Today, I had no idea who wanted me dead.
Exactly. Matthias smiled like a snake. You have no enemies because you're nobody. Just a clever little Omega who fooled us all.
I have enemies now, I snarled, looking straight at Lyanna. Don't I, sister?
Lyanna flinched. Good. I wanted her to feel guilty. Wanted her to suffer.
But then she stood, tears streaming down her face, and I realized something horrible.
She was enjoying this.
I wish I could defend you, Ari. Lyanna's voice broke beautifully. She was always good at crying on command. I loved you so much. You were my sister. My best friend. I shared everything with you.
Apparently not everything, I shot back, glaring at where her hand had been on Damon's knee.
Lyanna ignored that. But I can't ignore the truth. I found the first document three weeks ago, hidden under the floorboards in your room.
Three weeks ago. Right after Damon proposed.
At first, I thought someone planted it, Lyanna continued, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. I wanted to protect you. So I searched more carefully. And I found more evidence. And more. Her voice dropped to a whisper. So many lies, Ari. So many secrets.
Because you planted them! I lunged forward. Guards grabbed me before I could reach her. You framed me! Admit it!
Why would I? Lyanna asked softly. You're my sister. I love you.
You're wearing my engagement ring!
The room went silent.
Lyanna looked down at her hand. At the diamond ring that Damon had given me just hours ago. Her eyes widened, like she'd forgotten it was there.
Oh. She twisted it off quickly. I'm sorry. I was so upset when they arrested you, and Damon was comforting me, and somehow... She handed it to Damon. I didn't mean to. I wasn't thinking.
Damon took the ring, his face unreadable. Understandable. You've been through a trauma tonight.
Trauma. My fiancé was comforting my sister for the trauma of betraying me.
I laughed. Couldn't help it. The sound came out wild and broken.
You're insane, I told Lyanna. Both of you. What did I ever do to you?
You existed, Lyanna whispered. So quiet that maybe only I heard it with my wolf senses.
Then louder: Father, I'm sorry. I tried to protect her, but the evidence is overwhelming. She's been deceiving us for years.
Father finally looked at me. His eyes were cold. I took you in when you had nothing. Fed you. Clothed you. Gave you my name. And this is how you repay me? With lies and fraud?
I never lied
ENOUGH! His roar shook the chamber. You are not my daughter. The Silverthorn name is stripped from you effective immediately. You are nothing. No one.
Each word was a knife in my chest.
Matthias stood. The sentence for rank fraud is exile to the Forsaken Lands. No supplies. No weapons. You will be cast out at dawn.
That's a death sentence, someone whispered.
Yes, Matthias agreed. It is.
The crowd murmured approval. They wanted me dead. All these people I'd grown up with, laughed with, considered friends—they wanted me gone.
Take her to the cliff edge, Matthias ordered. Let her spend her final night contemplating her crimes.
Guards hauled me toward the doors. I fought every step, but they were too strong.
As they dragged me past Lyanna, she leaned close. Her perfume—jasmine and lies—filled my nose.
You should have died when your real parents did, she breathed in my ear. But don't worry. I'll take good care of everything you left behind. Your name. Your fiancé. Your life.
She pulled back, face wet with fake tears. Goodbye, sister. I'll pray for your soul.
Damon stood beside her. Our eyes met.
I'm sorry, he mouthed.
But his hand found Lyanna's. Their fingers intertwined like they'd done it a thousand times.
Understanding crashed over me like ice water.
This wasn't sudden. They'd been together for months. Maybe years. Planning this. Waiting for the perfect moment to destroy me.
And I'd made it so easy. Trusted them completely. Loved them with everything I had.
Commander Thorne grabbed my arm. Move.
They dragged me outside into cold night air. The cliff edge loomed ahead—a sheer drop into darkness. Below lay the Forsaken Lands, where exiles went to die.
Thorne forced me to my knees at the edge. Dawn comes in six hours. Use them wisely.
She left two guards to watch me and walked away.
I knelt there, staring into the abyss. Tomorrow they'd throw me over. I'd fall into hell, and everyone would forget I existed.
Lyanna would wear my dresses. Sleep in my room. Marry my fiancé.
And I'd be dead.
Rage burned through despair. Hot and vicious and sharp.
No.
I wouldn't die. I'd survive. I'd crawl back from whatever hell they threw me into.
And I'd make them pay. Every single one of them.
A sound made me turn. Someone stood in the shadows near the castle wall.
They stepped forward into moonlight.
My heart stopped.
It was Father's head advisor—old Master Chen, who'd always been kind to me. Hope flared.
Master Chen! Please, you have to help me. Tell them this is wrong
I'm sorry, child. His voice was sad. But I can't help you.
Why not?
He pulled something from his cloak. A bag of gold coins. They paid me well to make sure those documents were placed perfectly. He looked genuinely regretful. Nothing personal. Just business.
He'd helped frame me. Chen, who taught me to read. Who called me his favorite student.
Everyone had betrayed me.
There's something else you should know. Chen glanced around to make sure the guards weren't listening. Councilor Matthias specifically requested your exile. Not prison. Not execution. Exile to the Forsaken Lands.
Why?
Chen's expression turned strange. Almost pitying.
Because three weeks ago, you turned twenty-three. And Matthias said something important would 'activate' in your bloodline at that age. Something dangerous. He leaned closer. He said you needed to die in the Forsaken Lands specifically, where no one would find your body. Where whatever you're becoming would die with you.
Ice flooded my veins. What am I becoming?
I don't know. He wouldn't say. But he seemed... Chen paused. Afraid.
He left me kneeling there, mind reeling.
Matthias was afraid of me. Of something in my bloodline. Something that would activate at twenty-three.
The guards shoved me again, closer to the edge.
I stared into the darkness below and made a choice.
If there was power in my blood—power that terrified the Supreme Councilor—I'd find it.
I'd survive.
And I'd come back.