Chapter 2 The Trial
Serena Blackwood's POV
The drag of the chains on the floor grew louder as the guards shoved me in the middle of the council chamber, the glow of the chandeliers causing me to squint after being in the dark dungeons under the castle for three days.
The space was filled with the hundreds of people, their furious murmurs bouncing off the walls, and I kept my gaze fixed on the front stage, where the High Council was seated at a long table.
"Serena Blackwood, you are accused of the high treason murder of Alpha Richard Blackwood and Luna Elena Blackwood," the Grand Chancellor declared, his booming voice quieting the crowd as he glared at me with pure contempt.
"I didn’t kill them, I swear I just come into the study and they were dead when I got there, so have to believe me because I loved my parents and I would never harm them," I yelled up, my voice breaking with exhaustion as I scanned the room looking for the one who could save me.
“The evidence against this council is absolute Serena, your prints were the only ones to be found on the ancestral dagger and the dress of your own mother was soaked in blood,” the Chancellor said, gesturing down to the box the bloody knife and the tattered piece of my dress rested on.
“That’s because when I saw that, when I was trying to pull the knife out to save her, I mean, anybody would have done that if they had seen their mom bleeding on the floor, so don’t use that as proof that I’m a murderer,” I said, but the opinion of the Chancellor was final and he called the first witness.
Our head housekeeper Martha took the stand with her head bowed and she wouldn't meet my gaze as she dabbed at the tears with a handkerchief and I felt as though something was twisting in my stomach because she was there for me since I was a child.
"Tell the council what you saw in the days before the tragedy, Martha," the assistant district attorney urged, approaching the trembling woman.
"Serena was very angry with her parents, because they wanted to marry her off, and just the afternoon before the murders, I heard her yelling at the Alpha that he would regret trying to decide her fate," Martha was sobbing and the entire room gasped as I looked at her in disbelief.
“Martha, that is a lie, and you know it, for I never disagreed with my father concerning marriage, what business is it of yours to defame me like this?” I yelled but the guards pulled on my chains, and I was forced down to my knees as the next witness took the stand.
One by one they were the guards and servants I’d known all my life who rose to testify against me, claiming to suddenly recall false charges and threats that I’d never uttered, and with each lie the invisible noose around my neck tightened until I was suffocating.
I turned my head in the direction of the royal family’s side of the chamber, and my heart skipped a beat when I finally caught sight of Lucien standing next to his father, the Alpha King, looking positively tense in his formal black uniform.
"Lucien, just tell them the truth, tell them we were together on the balcony right before it happened, that there’s no way I could have planned this, or done it," I begged, looking straight into those dark eyes and waiting for him to advance toward me and clear my name.
Lucien stepped half a pace out of the line, his jaw clenched so tight that a muscle twitched in his cheek, but before he could say anything the Alpha King laid a weighty, cautionary hand on his son’s shoulder and bent down to whisper something harshly into his ear. Lucien’s entire body froze in an instant, his expression went completely blank and he slowly retreated back into the line, his eyes falling to the floor and he did not dare to meet my frantic stare.
"Lucien, please look at me, you know I am not guilty so please don’t let them do that to me!” I screamed, the pain of his silence cutting deeper than any physical blade could because it made me feel more betrayed than anything while the council members nodded along to the lies.
“The accused shall be silent until the council has reached a verdict,” the Chancellor declared, pounding a wooden gavel against the table to silence my screams as the three judges huddled together to deliver their ruling.
It took no more than a couple of minutes for them to come to a consensus, and when the Chancellor rose, his gaze was ice-cold, utterly merciless.
“You are sentenced to death for the double alpha murder and will be publicly executed at dawn, and may the Moon Goddess grant you mercy in your soul,” he announced, and I felt the finality of the words like a punch to my gut as the crowd erupted in cheers.
The guards pulled me out of the chamber and threw me back into the dungeons until a dim band of light through the jail’s tiny iron bars signaled the break of day which was when mine was to begin.
They led me from the cell to the center of the walled room where a huge wooden platform had been constructed, thousands of pack members circled the edge, hurling stones at me, I could feel bruises forming along my skin as I took each step up.
The executioner stood ready with a. axe, the polished metal gleaming under the rising sun, and they forced my head down onto the rough wooden block while the Chancellor began reading the death warrant out loud to the public.
I closed my eyes tightly, expecting the sharp slice of metal against my neck at any second, when a massive, deafening blast shattered the morning quiet, and the entire platform lifted into the air as a violent explosion ripped through the courtyard, sending splinters and fire flying in every direction as everything went completely black.
