Della looked up at him, horrified. Her heart was pounding so fast it was about to burst out of her ribcage.
"I...I haven’t!" She cried, tears now spilling from her eyes.
"You expect anyone to believe that after THIS?" Jaime gestured violently toward the Moonfire still hissing silver smoke around her, "You were caught beneath the altar with enough Moonfire to massacre every Alpha present!"
"I was trying to remove it!"
"At whose command?" Leopold Astridge’s voice thundered across the hall. The younger Alpha stepped forward protectively in front of Beatrice, pure fury twisting his handsome face. His eyes pulsed between their natural brown and Alpha red.
"Jaime told me—"
"JAIME?" Evangeline gasped sharply, "You dare say his name again? You dare to accuse my son after what you’ve done? After everything this family has endured trying to protect you?"
Protect her? Della looked at her like she no longer recognized the woman.
Evangeline pressed a trembling hand against her chest, tears pooling in her eyes and streaming down her clear, perfect skin, "I’ve known her ever since she was born, and it broke my heart into pieces when her mother, the previous Luna passed away. Everyone warned me not to get close to a Rotblood. They said Moonrot spreads misery to anything that nurtures it..." Her voice broke. "But I refused to treat her cruelly, because she was still my daughter! She was still my family and I loved her despite everything!"
Della could barely breathe.
Evangeline pointed toward the black cloak draped over Della’s shoulders, "I defended her when servants wanted her removed from the estate after the winter plague."
Lie.
"I convinced Augustus to let her remain inside the family residence despite every bad luck she brought to this pack!"
Lie.
"I fed her at my own table when others thought she belonged in the kennels,"
Lie.
And everyone believed her.
"I treated you like my own daughter. I never allowed you to starve, and I never tried to hold you back. As the Alpha’s first daughter, I wanted to see you shine, Della. Even though you insisted on joining the servants, staying tucked away with your cousin, I still couldn’t abandon you. I gave you all that you desired because I considered your feelings and I just wanted to make you feel better, till you finally came to see that all I’ve ever wanted...was for you to be happy. This family has always treated you with nothing but love..." She paused, and her legs shook from the force of her unparalleled acting, "And THIS is how you repay us?"
The crowd turned uglier instantly.
"She betrayed the family that sheltered her."
"Rot in hell!"
"They poison everything they touch."
"No," Della cried with a bad ache in her chest, "It’s not true," That was all she could say. That was all she kept saying.
"Oh, stop lying!" Jaime snapped viciously, "Do you think we didn’t notice?"
Della looked at him helplessly, "Notice what?"
"The bitterness," He hissed. "The jealousy. The way you stared at Beatrice every time Father praised her."
"That’s not—"
"You hated her because she had everything you never could," He continued mercilessly, "A wolf. A future. Blessing. Respect!"
"No!" Della shook her head frantically, "No, I love Beatrice—"
Beatrice let out a soft, broken sob and everyone looked her way immediately. She looked utterly devastated, "Don’t," Beatrice whispered tearfully. "Please don’t pretend anymore,"
Della froze once again, watching as Beatrice stepped forward slowly, "I defended you my entire life," She said, her voice trembling, "Even when the servants feared you. Even when the elders begged Father to send you away after the famine." Tears slid down her face beautifully, "I loved you despite everything they said about Rotbloods, because we were sisters. We were supposed to have each other’s backs,"
Della felt sick.
It sounded real. It absolutely sounded REAL!
What kind of...demonic acting where they all displaying today? And all this time...she thought Beatrice was... different.
"And all this time..." Beatrice’s voice broke completely, "You wanted me dead,"
"No!" Della screamed, finally losing it. The sound echoed through the hall, and some wolves flinched instinctively as though her voice would suddenly grow hands and touch them.
Della looked around desperately at the sea of horrified faces around her, "You have to believe me!" she cried, "I didn’t know about any of this! Jaime told me the Moonfire was hidden beneath the altar and that I had to move it because wolves couldn’t touch it!"
Jaime laughed coldly, then shook his head lightly, "You are actually insane, Bella. No one here would ever believe I would hand a Moonfire weapon to a Rotblood and ask her to protect this alliance!"
The hall erupted with mocking disbelief again,
"She’s trying to drag everyone down with her."
"Pathetic creature."
"Liar."
Della’s eyes burned desperately as she turned toward her father again, "Please, Father. No one here believes me, but you have to. You have to have my back in this. I would never hurt anyone here. It’s all lies. I didn’t do it,"
His face was still as hard as stone, "You have disgraced this bloodline," He said.
"No..." Della felt the tiny hope left crumbling to dust.
"You were given shelter despite the curse in your veins. You were fed, protected and tolerated every single day since you were born,"
Tolerated?
"And still you repaid this family with treachery."
"Father, you can’t —"
"Silence!!!" He thundered.
She stopped breathing.
"I should have listened when the elders begged me to cast you out years ago," Augustus said coldly, "Every misfortune that entered this pack since your birth should have warned me what you truly were."
Della stared at him like something inside her had split open. He had always believed Jaime and Evangeline over her, and she didn’t know why she ever thought this time would be different.
Then Leopold Astridge stepped forward. Murderous intent oozed out of him, and his tall frame looked down at her like she was worst than rot itself, like every breath she took was an absolute waste of precious oxygen, "This creature attempted to assassinate the Eclipse Crown bloodline and the Iron ridge Pack during sacred vows," He said darkly, "She must be executed!"
A murmur of agreement spread instantly,
"Yes."
"Kill her."
"Burn the Rotblood."
Malachi Astridge finally spoke, and there was instantly pin drop silence in the hall. He didn’t look like he wanted to murder her like every single one of them standing there. He wore an even more deeper terrifying coldness, looking like a person who could destroy someone whenever and however they pleased.
"No." He stated strongly.
Every eye turned toward the Alpha as he descended the altar steps slowly, his black armor gleaming beneath the moonlight. As Della stared at him approaching her for the second time that night, he kind of looked like DEATH this time.
"You don’t grant death to traitors who attempt to destroy Alpha bloodlines," He said, power gushing out of his every pore, "Death ends suffering too quickly."
Della felt terror crawl slowly down her spine as Malachi stopped directly before the shattered altar opening and looked down at her trapped beneath it.
Broken.
Bleeding.
Shaken.
Exposed.
PERFECT!
"A creature like this should spend the rest of her life paying for what she tried to do tonight," He added, and his next words destroyed what remained of her world, "I’ll take responsibility for her myself. The Rotblood will be taken to Eclipse Crown as my wife,"