Chapter 44: Indecisiveness.
June 23 2026, 11:15am.
Nyx’ara dragged her suddenly heavy feet into the room, noticing as everyone stared at her as if watching a lamb make its way up to the slaughter.
A feeling of dread crept up her spine but shoving it down, she cleared her throat and walked further into the room, only stopping when she was inches away from Draven and Kieran.
From the corner of her eyes, she could see the smug smile tugging at the corner of Elara’s lips, but besides it, her eyes were swollen and red. She was sniffling into a handkerchief while Flynn draped his arm over her quaking shoulder and whispered smooth nonsenses into her ears.
"W-why are y-you here?" Nyx’ara couldn’t help but ask, her voice shaking just enough to reveal the fear she was hiding. "W-what are yo-you doing here?" She asked again, and this time, her icy eyes were trained on her sister, Elara.
Draven, as if noticing the tension simmering between the two sisters, stepped forward. He pulled Nyx’ara’s slightly stiff form closer to his body, his fingers digging into her wrist.
Heat and sparks erupted in the places their skins touched, but at the time, all Nyx’ara cared about was the literal daggers her sister was shooting at her, not the shooting stars between Draven and herself.
He was the first to speak. He drawled; "Luna, your sister and Alpha here came in about ten minutes ago. They said they have something to say to us... to you, and I’d love for all of us to hear what it is."
At the mention of Draven’s use of the word: ’Luna’, Elara’s head whipped up. Tristan’s face lost its color, but he still refused to look at Nyx’ara.
He refused to look at her and see the woman he used to beat up for unreasonable reasons. He refused to let his shame look him dead in the eyes.
"Lady Elara, you have wasted fifteen minutes already. Do you wish to speak or would you like to leave now?" Azriel’s voice rumbled from the back, sending a chill down Nyx’ara’s back. She spun around briefly to catch him watching Elara, a flicker of irritation in his eyes.
But come to think of it, is there any time he isn’t irritated?
Even when he kissed her, even when he made her moan... he was still irritated.
The thought brought heat rising in Nyx’ara’s cheeks. She pressed her hands against her face to hide her blush and blinked when Elara took that opportunity to fall to her knees and begin to cry.
"I know my sister is wrong for killing your sister! I know she is a murderer, a thief, and an unrepentant bully; but aren’t you torturing her too much? Why have you decided to marry her just to steal her freedom forever?!"
As soon as the words rang out, Nyx’ara stiffened. Her eyes widened slightly as she watched Elara with a hint of fascination on her face.
To anyone who would witness this, they’d say Elara loved her too much, hence the reason she was groveling on her knees for her sister’s freedom... but Nyx’ara knew better.
She frowned and shrugged. "I a-am not be-being tortured."
For a split second after she said that, she saw something akin to contempt crawl over Elara’s face before it was quickly gone.
The latter bowed, pressing her head against the floor and continued to cry. "I have come to ask for my sister’s freedom. I have come to beg that you let her go. If you are so mad at her for taking your sister’s life, then take mine. Make it even. Kill me the way she killed the princess and beat me up the way she did to the princess."
"Elara!" Flynn yelled, his hands instinctively moving to grab her shoulder and force her to her feet. But Elara, defiant, shrugged him off.
Her piercing blue eyes held and latched onto Alpha Draven as she touched the tip of his shoes. She continued;
"She may be reckless and cruel but she didn’t mean to kill the princess! She only did it because she thought it was me and since someone has died for my sake, it is only reasonable that I die too!"
Again, Nyx’ara noticed that even though Elara sounded like she was pleading on her behalf, she was making sure to paint her in a bad light.
She wanted to make everyone see her as cruel.
She wanted to ensure that the Quads turned their backs against her.
Her face was blotchy and red. Tears and catarrh rolled down her face. Her hair was the messiest Elara has ever seen and for a moment, it reminded her of that day three years ago when she had thrown herself off the rooftop.
Tears of hopelessness burned at the corners of Nyx’ara’s eyes, but forcing her voice to remain steady and her tears to hold off from falling, she muttered;
"Y-you d-do understand th-that y-you are asking th-them to let me go, right?"
Elara nodded quickly— too quickly. "Yes! I just want you to be safe! The people here will not bat an eye before deciding to hurt you. They value strength and grit, and you are a wolfless omega to begin with!"
’Again, another subtle insult’ Nyx’ara noted.
However, she was just about to speak when Rhys suddenly moved behind her. She felt his heated fingers trail up her back, making her breath catch, before he came to stand protectively in front of her.
He crossed his arms over his chest, and his voice was barely above a whisper as he turned to Elara and asked; "You said Nyx’ara bullies you right?"
She nodded frantically. "Yes."
"Yet, you’re so desperate to have her released so that she can return to bullying you, am I right?"
This time, she didn’t respond too quickly. She turned her face away, lowered her head graciously, and mumbled; "She is still my sister."
For a moment, no one spoke after that. No one even moved an inch. The room crackled with tension so intense it pressed hard against Nyx’ara’s chest. Her eyes filled with tears which instinctively rolled down her cheeks when Tristan stepped forward. His eyes were so cold that she trembled as he said;
"Elara is right."
All four—five— Alphas turned to look at him.
"Nyx’ara is our sister. She has been brought to law before when she tried to hurt Elara and we can do it again. Release her to us and we will lock her up for life for killing the princess."
In other words: let us drag her back to the pit she had just crawled out from.
Hurt and rage twisted painfully at Nyx’ara’s chest. She stared at her brother with her lips pressed into a thin line. Her eyes then darted from him to Elara’s fragile crying state and the irony of it all slammed into her like a ton of bricks.
"Why didn’t you three come for her like this before the wedding ceremony?" Kieran suddenly asked, causing Elara to whip her head up quickly.
"Why did you decide to wait until after the wedding before deciding that Nyx’ara should be jailed in your pack and not here?" He continued, not missing the way their faces turned ghostly pale.
He flashed Elara a toothy grin as he crouched just enough to help her to her feet, and as he did, Nyx’ara couldn’t help but notice the small smile tugging at the corners of Elara’s lips.
Their eyes met and held for a second, but enough for a meaningful message to pass between them:
’I can always get the men to fall for me.’
She looked away.
Kieran helped Elara then shrugged her off when she began to lean against him for a moment too long. He drawled; "Also, you just claimed that we have stolen her freedom by keeping her here... am I right?" The question was directed to Elara and for that reason, she nodded at him.
"So why do you claim you will take her to your pack and lock her up in the dungeons for killing my sister? Isn’t that ’snatching her freedom’ as well?" He finished, his eyes on Tristan.
The moment he asked that, something in the air shifted. Elara staggered backwards like she had been struck. Her face drained of all its color and her body shook.
She shook her head. "No... no, that is not what we mean?"
"What do you mean then?" Draven cut in, his voice icy, "...do you want Nyx’ara punished or not?"