Same as the sound of the cell door closing.
The first thing Seraphina saw was that.
Not the dark.
Not the cold stone under her feet.
Not the heavy chains on her wrists.
The noise.
One last merciless echo.
Clang. clang.
The same sound she had heard before she died.
For a brief moment…
She no longer stood in the prison under the manor.
She was back at the scene of execution.
It rained from a black sky.
The crowd howled.
The chains bit into her flesh.
And Kael was standing among them.
Observing.
Seraphina woke up.
The memory was gone.
But the pain stayed.
She looked down at the iron on her wrists.
Ancient.
Heavy.
Written in ancient runes.
The guards that brought her here were careful.
Too much care.
They hadn’t treated her like a regular prisoner.
They’d treated her like a threat.
They knew.
Deep inside somewhere…
They knew precisely what she was becoming.
A faint smile played about her lips.
They were scared.
Right.
The cell beneath the surface had been deserted for decades.
Few wolves knew it was even there.
The walls were black stone.
The kind the old Council used to keep strong wolves for the trials.
Runes covered the floor, older than the laws of the current Pack.
Designed for one thing.
Supernatural powers suppression
A regular wolf would have a hard time navigating this place.
A strong wolf would hardly breathe.
Seraphina sat against the wall and looked at each mark.
They thought these walls would crush her.
They expected memories of her execution to lessen her.
The chains were there to remind her of helplessness.
They had made a mistake.
They assumed she was the same woman who had died.
Footsteps came near.
Seraphina raised her head.
The cell guard halted outside the bars.
“You should have fought back.”
She said no word.
The guard continued.
““The evidence was weak.”
Still none.
You could have asked for a trial.
Seraphina cocked her head slightly.
“And would they have believed me?
The guard shut his mouth.
Because it was obvious.
No. The minute the evidence came out, they’d already decided what they wanted to believe.
Seraphina looked away.
“Get out.”
The guard faltered.
Then followed orders.
The moment his footsteps were passed…
Her expression altered.
No grief.
Up in the air…
Kael stood in the council hall and looked at the evidence of the poisoning.
The box .
The reports.
The witness’s testimony.
Everything pointed to Seraphina.
But something inside him wouldn’t let it.
Not because he wanted to shield her.
Because he was familiar with her.
Or at least…
He was starting to see that he did.
She didn’t do that.
Rowan regarded him closely.
Alpha.”
Kael turned.
The evidence says otherwise.
”The evidence is too handy.”
Rowan didn’t say anything.
For he knew exactly what Kael meant.
The container.
The eyewitness.
The time.
Everything had looked perfectly fine.
“Too perfectly.
Then why did she allow herself to be taken?
Kael had no reply.
That one bugged him the most.
Seraphina was not a helpless.
She could’ve fought.
She could have cursed the falsehood. rather …
She stopped.
Why?
The manor, deep down…
Seraphina shut her eyes.
The quiet should’ve been silent.
Or…
It contained memories.
Her own heart beat.
Her breathing.
Her thoughts.
An then…
A whisper.
Not in the wild.
Inside.
You came back to this place.
Her wolf.
Seraphina stayed still.
“I know.”
The place they tried to finish us off.
She tightened her fingers on the chains.
I remember.
The memory came out of nowhere.
Execution platform.
The scent of rain.
The roar of the crowd.
The moment she’d known Kael was going to be quiet.
Her chest constricted.
For years….
That was the thing that bothered her.
That moment.
Not the edge.
Non-killing.
The treason.
The knowledge that the person she trusted most had stood by and let it happen.
The chains snapped to.
Seraphina looked down.
The runes cut into the iron started to glow.
The prison could sense her feelings.
Draining her strength.
Then something unexpected happened.
The pain went away.
The runes glimmered.
The pressure became confusion.
Seraphina looked at the chains.
Slowly.
Interesting.
The prison was falling apart.
Not quite.
But that is enough.
The old magic that was supposed to contain her…
Was having a hard time.
Her wolf growled low.
They made this for the wolves.
Hold on.
Not for us.
Seraphina rose.
The chains were still on.
But they weren’t so heavy.
She went over to the middle of the cell.
The runes of suppression under her feet flared up.
There came an old energy.
Any other wolf would have broken.
Seraphina still stood there.
The energy caressed her.
Stopped.
Then .
.
.
Bend.
Not damaged.
Bent.
As if to admit something above.
Her eyes changed slowly.
There was a faint silver light.
She pressed her hand against the stone wall.
She laid her palm across it and…
The whole of the jail shook.
Up in the air…
And every wolf in the territory stopped.
Kael looked up sharply.
“What do you mean?
Rowan’s face turned white.
The jail.
Kael stopped.
‘Well, what of it?’
The captain swallowed.
“The underground cell… The manor shook with a deep rumbling.…it answered.”
Under the ground….
Seraphina pulled her hand back.
For a moment nothing happened.
Then there was a thin line across the stone.
A fissure.
Mini.
Almost not visible.
But true.
She looked at it.
The same walls that had held her, before she died…
And were now struggling to hold her back after her return.
Another gap appeared.
And another.
The old prison vibrated around her.
And for the first time since her execution…
Seraphina grinned.
Not because she was a free woman.
“No, not yet.
But because she had finally understood.
They hadn’t put her in jail.
They had stirred her up.