Chapter 82

Evelyn

The marble floors echoed with every step, like it was punctuating some thought with each footfall. The hall in which the Summit was to take place was polished to perfection, and every surface gleamed. It was all opulent and a reminder of the authority of what happened in these halls.

This was the place where laws were written and futures were shaped. Everyone with even a shred of leadership would be at the Summit to speak on matters and weigh in on the steps to move forward. People who had been ruling all of their lives, and people who had fought tirelessly in the battles we were now moving on from were all in attendance.

And here I was, in the center of it all, trying not to let my hands shake.

I walked through the corridor toward the main room where everyone was gathered, my heels clicking against the marble in rhythm with the rising noise. The crowd was already mostly gathered, and their conversations were pulsing, audible from even down the hall. They had all come here to rebuild and unify. To start over.

As I passed into the room, few turned to pay me any mind. They were too involved in their conversations, and they hadn’t seen me enter. Otherwise, they likely would have stopped speaking altogether. Because as I made my way deeper into the room, I heard it—the whispers that followed me like a shadow.

“Are you talking about that one woman? The healer?”

“What’s so special about her? Why would the Alpha King risk everything for someone so insignificant?”

“I’ve seen her before. She’s pretty, sure, but pretty enough to have Alpha Logan drooling like a pup? It’s ridiculous. I can’t make sense of it.”

A bitter taste crept into my mouth. I kept walking with some effort. There was no need to engage. Soon, they would know the truth of it all. Including Logan.

My clothes suddenly felt too tight, and the walls seemed to press inward. The oxygen in the room was too thin and I couldn’t get a proper lungful. My heart was stuttering, panicking in the face of the mounting pressure.

And then I saw him.

Logan caught my eye from across the room. His face lit up subtly when he saw me, warm and steady, and the tension in my shoulders loosened just a little. He was like salve on a burn wound, calming me with each step he took to close the distance.

“You look... radiant,” he said as his attention raked from my shoes to my scalp. His thoroughness made me nearly shiver.

“I would hope so. This nice dress is the only armor I can don to deliver a political manifesto to a room full of wolves who hate me.”

“They don’t hate you,” he said gently. “They just don’t know you yet.”

I gave him a look.

He smiled. “Okay, some of them hate you. But they don’t know you. And for the record, I don’t. Hate you, I mean, so there’s one fewer person in attendance who does. And I’ll be right here the whole time. Just look at me if you start to get nervous.”

I gave him a soft smile. He returned it, and the expression warmed me all over.

Before either of us could say more, the room seemed to take notice of us. A hundred pairs of eyes turned their attention to us. I felt the weight of their stares like they were physical burdens settling on me. They were curious, skeptical, and judgmental. I swallowed dryly and tried to ignore them while Logan met them head-on, daring them to question us.

For so long, as a healer, I was used to being invisible. Now I was center stage, and no one knew what to make of me.

But I knew why I was here. I knew who I was. And soon, they would learn too.

My father stepped in then, mercifully tearing the attention in the room back to him. I exhaled shakily as the room quieted for him to speak.

“We will begin with a proposition drafted by our own healer, Evelyn,” he announced. “Afterward, the proposal will be open for discussion.” He gestured toward a podium on a raised dais. “You may proceed,” he said to me.

I stepped onto the platform and opened the pages I had spent hours perfecting. My fingers brushed the edge of the parchment, trying to steady myself. When I raised my head, it was with considerable effort.

“I’m Evelyn,” I began, voice clear despite the tightness in my throat, “and today, I stand before you not just as a healer or a survivor, but as someone who believes we can build a world better than the one that left so many of us behind. You may have heard rumors about me and what I’ve recently gone through. Let me clear up any questions.”

I spoke of the rogue camps. Of the omegas, like Jesse’s mother, who had been discarded and driven to poverty because of their status. I spoke of the female wolves and the unique dangers they faced even still. I spoke from the gut, not just the script. This was not part of the drafted papers I had arrived with. To start, I gave them my truth.

And then, I outlined how to fix it. Or at least, my suggestions as to how. I presented my proposal for equality.

The room didn’t roar with applause, but it listened. All the while, I could feel three pairs of eyes weighing most heavily on me: my father, watching on with approval; Alex, observing with mute skepticism; and Logan, radiating pride.

I glanced at Logan as I finished. He stood at the edge of the platform, nodding, a growing grin softening his features. It gave me strength. I took a deep breath, and looking at him, I felt accomplished. I had done it.

But then a sharp voice cut through the silence.

“I’m sorry,” Emma said, rising from her place among the pack leaders. “Are we just letting anyone propose legislation now? Or just the pretty ones who catch the attention of kings and princes?”

A ripple of laughter and discomfort rolled through the room.

I hadn’t even realized that Emma had come. She had made it clear that her loyalties were not distinctly in any camp, but her refusal to sell us out to Jesse had earned her an invitation to this gathering for equality.

Logan stiffened.

And then Logan’s mother shuffled forward, her face pinched and cold. “I don’t know what this girl’s done to earn the royal family’s... favoritism,” she said, disdain lacing every word. “But it’s hard to ignore the spectacle. I’m sorry, it must be said. We’re all thinking it. She’s just a little bird clinging to the prince’s shoulder.”

There were gasps and snickers. Even a few snarls. It was enough to make my skin feel like it had been set ablaze.

Logan looked ready to explode. His fists were clenched at his sides, and his body was angling to rise.

But before he could speak, another voice rang out.

A voice that froze the room.

“Are you implying,” said my father, the Alpha King, rising from his seat like a storm gathering strength, “that my daughter is sleeping with her brother to get into power?”

Silence followed. Absolute, crushing silence. Even though the room was packed, you could’ve heard a pin drop just then.

Emma’s mouth parted. Logan’s mother paled.

You could feel the realization as it dropped into the room like a stone into still water. And then the whispers started.

“She’s the princess.”

“The missing one!”

“The rogue healer they all thought was nobody.”

When I looked across the room, scanning all the aghast expressions, I found Logan’s face in the crowd again. My heart sank as I realized that he wasn’t smiling anymore.

He was staring at me, jaw slack, eyes wide with something that looked almost like horror.

My heart cracked at the edges, the brittle organ shattering like dropped glass.

I stood in front of everyone, the truth finally spoken. A moment before, I had felt bolstered and brave. And now, I had never felt so small.