Ann hadn't even cleared her desk when a guard knocked the next morning. His eyes were wide, his posture too rigid.
"Refugees, Alpha Queen. From the southern corridor. They're asking for an audience."
Ann stood at once. Sleep could wait. She nodded for him to lead.
The hall was already humming with tension and the great doors were thrown open, guards standing stiffly on either side. A group of Lycans waited just inside, their clothes ragged and eyes hollow from too many nights without rest. The smell of blood and ash clung to them, even after the palace healers had done their best to wash it away.
Ann's chest tightened as she walked forward. Adam was already there, his arms crossed and his stare locked on the group with a focus that made the guards step aside quickly.
The eldest of the refugees, a broad-shouldered man with scars running down his cheek, stepped forward and bowed his head.
"Alpha Queen. Queen's Consort, we come from Greymount." His voice was hoarse and whether it was from shouting or smoke they couldn't tell.
Ann inclined her head in acknowledgement as she gestured to the hall.
"You're safe here. You can speak freely."
The man's jaw tightened as he wrestled with the words he needed to say.
"There is no Greymount anymore." he finally ground out.
A ripple of shock went through the chamber as Nobles who had gathered shifted uncomfortably.
"What happened?" Ann asked.
The man lifted his head and the first thing that Ann noticed was that his eyes were bloodshot and raw.
"Ely's coven came with him. They took the village apart piece by piece. At first we thought they meant to kill us cleanly. We were wrong."
Another survivor, a woman with burns lacing her hands, spoke next. "They cut into the bodies. Men, women, children. Not just killing them. Reshaping them." Her voice cracked but she forced the words out. "I saw my brother chained while they carved symbols into his skin. His bones cracked, bent into shapes they shouldn't. He begged me to end it."
A noble gagged and muttered,
"Goddess preserve us."
The woman's eyes snapped toward him, fury sparking.
"Preserve you? Where were you when they tore us apart? Where were you when Ely's witches stitched wolves and all sorts of creatures into things that screamed with our voices but no longer knew us?"
The chamber went silent as the nobles recoiled, some covering their mouths, some shaking their heads as if denial could erase the testimony.
Another Lycan, younger, barely more than a boy, lifted his chin.
"I dragged my mother's body from a pit. It was still moving. Her face was hers, but her limbs…" His throat closed. He dropped his gaze to the floor.
Ann's stomach turned, but she held her ground and stepped forward, reaching out, resting a steady hand on his shoulder.
"You don't need to carry the image alone. You're safe to grieve here."
The boy blinked his tears away quickly, his bottom lip trembling as he did so, but he nodded.
A hiss of disgust came from the noble side of the hall.
"Abominations," one of them muttered. "How do we know these creatures aren't tainted themselves?"
Adam's head snapped toward the voice, golden light flaring in his eyes. The growl that rolled from him made the air itself tremble.
The noble paled but didn't retreat.
"We can't risk contamination. Look at them. They reek of corruption."
The refugees stiffened, their shoulders held stiffly and their lips curling up in restrained anger. They didn't speak and didn't lash out, they just stood there, silently and unbroken despite what they had been through.
"That silence is louder than any snarl," Maeve said, darkly impressed. "They're bleeding inside and still standing straighter than the pampered fossils who wouldn't survive one night out there."
Ann raised her voice before Adam's temper could snap the chamber in two
"They are survivors, not abominations. They endured what none of us should ever have to see. Their restraint honors their dead."
The nobles shuffled, uneasy, but one sneered.
"Restraint? Or guilt? How many of them fought beside Ely before turning tail?"
Adam moved before Ann could stop him. His hand slammed down on the table at the chamber's edge, wood cracking beneath the force. The growl that ripped from his chest was deep enough to shake the floor.
"Say it again," he snarled, his voice edged with his wolf. "Call them traitors in front of me. I dare you."
The noble withered instantly, his bravado wilting under the weight of Adam's fury. He stumbled back, pale and sweating.
Ann stepped quickly between Adam and the nobles, her hand pressed to his chest.
"Adam, calm down," she said softly, quiet enough that only he could hear the plea in her voice. "Not here. Not now."
Adam's chest heaved beneath her hand and the muscles in his jaw ticked angrily, as though the words he wanted to say were fighting to be heard. Finally, with visible effort, he stepped back and as soon as he had done so, the hall began to whisper. The sight of Adam's control slipping spread from mouth to mouth quicker than empathy for the survivors.
Ann turned back to the refugees.
"You've suffered enough for a lifetime. You'll be given rooms in the inner wing. Food, clothing, healers, whatever you need. You are not alone anymore."
The scarred man bowed his head again, voice rough.
"Thank you, Alpha Queen. We will not forget."
As they were led away, their silence remained intact. It wasn't submission. It was defiance, cold and steady, against the nobles who would sneer and the enemies who had broken them.
Ann stayed where she was until the doors closed. She could feel the eyes of the nobles on her, weighing her response, and whispering already.
Adam moved to her side, his body still rigid and with a single glance, she knew that he was struggling to contain his wolf. His wolf hovered too close to the surface, ready to tear through the nobles if they were stupid enough to provoke him again.
"And now they whisper about him too," Maeve said, her voice sly. "The Alpha Consort who growls at his own council. Dangerous. Unstable. Just the gossip mill's favorite chew toy.Again. I feel like they all need to find a new hobby. Perhaps we can enact conscription again and force them to the front lines. Perhaps we'll get lucky and Ely will get rid of them for us."
"As tempting as that is Maeve, you know as well as I do that it would only cause more pushback from their packs. We would be blamed for their incompetence."
Ann's jaw clenched as she reached for Adam, and placed a steady hand on his arm, anchoring him as much as herself.
"They'll talk," she murmured, "It's all they know how to do."
"Let them. I want them to be more afraid of me than of their own shadows. That way, they'll leave you and my pups alone."
Ann could feel her royal mask slipping over her face once more, her expression giving nothing away.
But she could already feel the cracks forming in the delicate balancing act within the palace.
The nobles recoiled at anything they felt was beneath them, the refugees endured and showed more resilience and strength than the majority of the high born, and Adam's anger raged hot enough that even allies were questioning his control.
The palace itself felt ready to burst into flames at any moment.
Ann lifted her chin, facing the nobles' stares without blinking.
"If you cannot stomach the truth and conduct yourselves in the manner that your rank requires, then you will step aside for those who will fight and who will do what is needed without hesitation. The war has already begun and I am not averse to stripping people of their titles if they cannot put the realms interests before their own."
The chamber quieted, but the whispers didn't stop.
If anything, she had only fanned the flames of their hatred higher.