I noticed that with a private satisfaction I didn't show. The girl they'd trained to lower her eyes now held the Luna of this pack in open gaze while the hall watched. That alone would've unsettled Maren more than chains could.
I returned to the file.
"By authority vested in me as Alpha King, I find the charges against Maren Hale sustained in full." The words settled through the hall like stone through water. "Sentence will be delivered upon completion of all readings."
Maren's composure thinned further.
She didn't speak. Sensible. Words often harmed the guilty more than silence once evidence was complete. I had seen many rulers fail to learn that lesson before I removed them.
I reached for the next section.
My hand brushed the table and I felt Isla shift beside me, slight but immedi
