Elizabeth advanced like a storm that did not delay. Her eyes were sparks of solitary lightning.
"Safira, speak to me. Why such silence?"
She needed to understand that silence, to uncover the reason behind the void that was climbing into something far more anguishing.
— Astrid must know what is happening to my wolf.
She had to know how, as a Lycan, she could have been silenced without cause. The very thought was inconceivable.
— My lady, we are close to the main entrance of Mount Solari…
Leónia's voice rose above the wind slicing through the stillness.
— We will meet my father, Leónia…
She did not have time to continue. A shrill gallop forced them to halt midway.
The hooves were those of horses, yet the weight in each strike against the ground screamed exhaustion.
— Lady Elizabeth! Wait a moment!
The voice belonged to a soldier, a scout from the Lunar Mountain pack. She reined in the griffin with steady hands. Her hair whipped above her shoulders, her sacred armor gleaming against the fading light.
— What are you doing here?
— I bear information, Your Highness!
— What information would drive you into the frozen mountains?
— Treason, Your Grace!
Leónia froze, her right hand tightening around the hilt of her sword. Her eyes darkened; her lips moved without sound. The words died in her throat.
— How? Are you certain?
Elizabeth's voice was cold as fractured ice.
— Absolutely, Your Grace.
— Tell me. Who dares betray the Children of the Moon?
— The Children of the Sun!
Elizabeth's eyes widened in absolute horror, her fingers loosening around the reins.
— How? Repeat that!
— The children of the Sun God, Princess!
— Where did this heresy arise from? Where is the proof?
The man withdrew four letters from his armor.
— The proof is not only intercepted letters, but evidence found upon a fallen body on the battlefield.
Leónia did not wait for a direct command before following her lady's griffin. Hooves struck against sullied snow as they rode toward the heap of corpses upon the pyre.
— Find the enemy, Leónia!
— But whom do I seek, my lady? — she leapt from her horse, dragging aside bodies the fire had not yet fully consumed.
— It is Counselor Henrique!
The rider announced it as he dismounted to aid in the search.
— Damnation… How could they?
She hurled herself against the mound of torn flesh, hands pulling at severed limbs, casting them aside until the truth revealed itself: she had stood among serpents who plotted against her blood and her family.
— Cursed traitor…
Elizabeth removed the helmet from the renegade's head.
There, to her astonishment, lay Counselor Henrique.
— By the Moon Goddess! — Leónia exclaimed in pure hatred as she stared at the mutilated corpse.
— They conspired against our people, Leónia. Against the alliance I so generously offered. How dare they attempt to wound us like filthy vermin!
— What shall we do, Your Highness? Today was to be your coronation as Luna.
Elizabeth drew her sword. With a single stroke, she severed Henrique's head from his body. The iron within the dragon-heart blade cauterized the wound at once.
— Knight, go to my father. See to his condition and to the caravan.
— What else shall I tell His Majesty the King?
Elizabeth seized the man's hair, lifting the severed head to the level of her eyes.
— "I shall return home once I have settled matters within the Dawn Sun pack." That is all you will say to my father.
— As you command, Your Grace.
After his confirmation, the man mounted his horse, carrying two of the four letters. Elizabeth held not only the head of a traitor, but two letters that proved the betrayal.
— Leónia!
— Your Highness!
— Come. I have debts to collect from wolves who shine with false light.
She pivoted in a single motion, vaulting onto her mount. The reins were drawn tight, and the griffin turned toward the Palace.