Chapter 21
**Maureen**
The courtyard had never felt so cold.
Everyone was there.
Servants stood in tight clusters, whispering behind their hands. Warriors lined the edges, faces unreadable. The elders sat above us, dressed in ceremonial robes that made them look distant and untouchable.
I stood alone at the center.
Not chained.
Not kneeling.
That alone felt like a provocation.
Stefan stood on the platform, slightly to the side—not towering above me, not standing beside me either. Neutral. Controlled. Alpha.
It hurt more than I expected.
"Elira," Elder Corvin said, tapping his staff against the stone. "Begin."
Elira stepped forward, her gaze sharp and confident.
"This inquiry concerns Maureen," she announced, voice carrying easily. "A slave who has repeatedly overstepped her place within this pack."
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
