A pair of palace guards stepped forward, heads bowed. Then came a former advisor—an older man with shaking hands who lifted his voice: "I delivered your messages to rogue Alphas, my lady. You paid me well."
"No," Marcella whispered, taking a step back. "You're all lying."
But the guards came forward with something else—an artifact, glinting with old magic. A pendant once worn by Athena, stolen from her rooms during her heat, when her powers had flared dangerously.
"Found beneath Marcella's floorboards," Cassius said coldly. "Laced with suppression spells meant to drain the Goddess's strength."
Silence fell like a blade.
Marcella's mask cracked. Her eyes darted to the council, then to Athena, then back.
"She's manipulating all of you!" she shrieked. "She's controlling your minds—just like she controlled him!"
She pointed at Lucas.
Lucas took a single step forward. "No one controls me, Marcella. Least of all a woman who poisons her own court."
