She exhaled slowly.
“Yes,” she said. “It will need to feel like a celebration, not a political maneuver.”
“That is the intention,” Thoren replied.
An advisor leaned forward cautiously. “Your Majesty, what if hostile elements attend?”
“They will be treated as guests unless they give us reason not to,” Thoren answered.
“And if the northern pack sends observers?”
“They are welcome to observe,” he said calmly.
That answer unsettled a few of them.
But that was the point.
The announcement itself was a deterrent.
Neutral observers watching a fractured territory might see opportunity. Observers watching a public alliance between wolves and Lycans would reconsider the math.
Michelle straightened, resolve settling into her posture.
“I will need full cooperation from the council,” she sai
