CHAPTER 198: CHAPTER 198: SELENE IS ALIVE?

Serena’s POV~

The room stayed silent after Aeron’s words.

You could almost hear the tension humming in the air. The queen’s polite smile had vanished, the king’s expression had gone stiff, and everyone else seemed too afraid to even move their forks.

It was awkward. Painfully awkward.

I stared down at my plate, pretending to be focused on my food, but my heartbeat was too loud in my ears. I could feel every gaze flicking between Aeron and the king. Even Kael had stopped smirking for once.

Finally, the king cleared his throat.

"Ahem..." His voice came out calm. "Let’s not allow old matters to spoil the evening, shall we?"

He forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "We are all gathered here to celebrate peace and unity between the packs and the crown."

Peace and unity...right?

The only thing peaceful in this room was the silence that came after every insult.

But the king kept speaking, his tone gentle, almost fatherly. "Alpha Aeron, Alpha Luca, Alpha Lucian, Alpha Kael... I understand your journey has not been easy. You rose from nothing. You built what many thought impossible. I deeply admire your... determination."

The pause before "determination" said everything.

It was the kind of fake compliment that sounded like praise but felt like a warning.

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. His hands were clasped together tightly under the table, knuckles pale. He was angry...furious, even, but he couldn’t show it.

Because he knew exactly what everyone else did.

He couldn’t afford to lose his temper with them.

The Alphas weren’t just powerful...they were dangerous. Their pack had grown faster and stronger than anyone expected. Even the werewolf council were starting to whisper about them.

If the king pushed too hard, he wouldn’t just be insulting some Alphas. He’d be provoking a possible war.

And that was something he couldn’t risk.

So instead, he swallowed his pride and put on that calm royal smile again. "You must understand," he said softly, "it is the duty of the crown to watch over the balance of power in the realm. I only wish for your safety and for the safety of your people. You’ve all suffered enough loss already."

He sighed, as if truly burdened by their pain. "I was deeply remorseful to hear about your mate," he added slowly. "Such tragedy is not something any ruler should ever ignore. Please, accept my sincerest condolences."

The words hung heavy in the air.

Even I froze for a second.

Mate.

That single word brought a stillness over the table.

Everyone seemed to wait for Aeron to respond. But before he could open his mouth, Lucian spoke instead.

His voice was calm but carried a sharp edge, like a blade sliding free from its sheath.

"We have not lost our mate."

Every head turned toward him.

Even Aeron looked mildly surprised that the silent Lucian spoke.

Lucian met the king’s gaze with cold, steady eyes. "She is perfectly fine," he said, his tone smooth and final. "So, Your Majesty, we don’t need your consolation."

You could have dropped a pin and heard it hit the floor.

The shock was instant.

The queen’s lips parted slightly, her elegant mask slipping. Arlena’s fork clattered onto her plate. Prince Vaelen blinked, looking between Lucian and the king as if trying to make sure he’d heard correctly.

The king himself froze mid-breath.

"I... beg your pardon?" he said carefully. "You mean..."

But Lucian didn’t let him finish.

He simply leaned back in his chair, expression blank, as if nothing unusual had happened. "There’s nothing to discuss," he said flatly. Then he looked down at his glass, swirling the wine lazily. "Let’s not speak of things you don’t understand."

No one said another word after that.

The silence stretched so long it started to feel like a living thing, heavy and unbreathing.

My chest tightened.

Because while everyone else was confused, I knew exactly what he meant.

She’s alive.

Selene.

Only I...and the four brothers knew the truth.

Everyone else believed she was dead, that she’d been lost to the fire, gone forever. But she wasn’t.

She was alive.

And sitting here, watching the shocked faces around the table, I almost forgot to breathe.

Lucian didn’t look my way again. Neither did Aeron, nor Luca, nor Kael. But I knew they all felt it...the same spark of silent defiance that lingered in the air.

The silence that followed Lucian’s words was different this time.

It wasn’t just awkward...it was suffocating.

Everyone’s faces changed in the same instant. Confusion. Shock. Disbelief.

I could almost hear their thoughts.

What did he just say?

Even the king, who had spent half his life pretending to understand everything, looked completely lost. His brows drew together as he stared at Lucian like he’d just grown a second head.

The queen was the first to recover...if you could call it that. Her elegant smile faltered, and for a brief second, her calm, regal face twisted into something cold and ugly. "I’m sorry," she said slowly, voice dripping with disbelief. "Did I hear you correctly, Alpha Lucian? You said... your mate is alive?"

Lucian didn’t even look at her.

He just took another sip of his drink, like her question wasn’t even worth acknowledging.

That only made it worse.

The queen’s jaw tightened, her tone turning sharp. "Forgive me, but I was under the impression your mate was the daughter of the late Alpha Eirik. The one who perished not long ago... along with that pure-blooded witch. Surely, I am not mistaken?"

Her words hung in the air, heavy and poisonous.

Everyone knew what she meant.

Everyone remembered the story.

The night of fire. The witch who had died with her.

The whole kingdom had heard that tale. That the Alpha brothers had gone mad after losing their mate, that they had slaughtered every man who dared to speak her name.

Even the king believed it.

And now... to hear that she was alive?

The king looked like someone had just poured a bucket of ice water over his head. His fake calm cracked, and his hand froze halfway to his glass. "Alive?" he repeated under his breath, his voice low, uncertain. "That... that cannot be. You must be mistaken."

But Lucian finally set down his glass and looked straight at him.

His eyes were cold and emotionless.

"I do not repeat myself, Your Majesty," he said simply.

The room went so quiet, it felt like even the candles had stopped flickering.

Across the table, Arlena’s face went pale. Then red. Then pale again. She blinked rapidly, her lips trembling as she tried to form words that refused to come out.

"W-What do you mean?" She finally stammered, her voice high-pitched and shaky. "H-how can Selene still be alive? Everyone knows she died..."

"Enough."

Lucian’s voice cut through her words; he refused to listen to any of her nonsense.

It wasn’t loud, but it silenced her instantly.

He didn’t shout. He didn’t even raise his tone. But the authority in his voice made the air tremble.

Everyone froze.

Arlena’s eyes widened, her face turning red with embarrassment. No one had ever dared to talk to her like that in front of the court. She was the prince’s chosen one, the so-called future queen. But Lucian didn’t care.

Not even a little.

"Speak again," he said quietly, his eyes cold as stone, "and I will make sure you never speak at all."

Her lips parted in shock, but no sound came out. She shrank back into her seat, staring down at her hands, trembling.

The queen’s expression darkened. Her calm mask was gone completely now. Her lips curled in fury, but even she didn’t dare to speak against him.

The power rolling off the four brothers was enough to silence an entire court.

I could feel it too...like a dark, invisible pressure in the air.

The king looked completely cornered now. His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, trying to piece together some kind of control over the situation.

If Selene were alive... then everything would change.

He had invited them here because he thought he could manage them...because he believed they were broken, grieving, and too consumed by pain to be a threat. But if that pain was gone, if their mate was truly alive... then what did they want here?

Why were they in his palace at all?

His eyes darted between the brothers, unease growing in his chest. Were they lying? Were they here for revenge?

He didn’t know what to believe anymore.

Meanwhile, across the table, Prince Vaelen had gone completely still.

His fingers trembled around his cup. His eyes were wide, disbelieving. His lips parted slightly like he wanted to say something, but no words came.

Selene.

The word echoed in his head over and over again.

He wanted to ask. He needed to ask. But Lucian’s cold eyes met his for one brief second, warning him to stay silent.

And Vaelen... couldn’t move.

He just sat there, frozen in place, the sound of his own heartbeat thundering in his ears.

I saw the way his expression changed. The way his eyes softened for a moment...hope, shock, disbelief, and something deeper all fighting for space in his chest.

And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Arlena watching him.

Her hands tightened around the edge of the table, her nails digging into the wood. Her expression turned dark, twisted with fury and humiliation.

Because she saw it too.

The way he reacted when he heard Selene’s name.

The way his heart still moved for someone who wasn’t her.

For a second, I almost felt sorry for her.