Chapter 103: The Matriarch’s Trap

Author’s pov~

"She has her own ways," Raven replied, his voice dark, quiet, and deeply unnerving. "You know how the Matriarch operates. If she wants to know something about anything walking on royal grounds, she finds out before the sun even sets."

Zyran’s jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing as the dangerous implications settled over the room. He pushed himself forward, resting his forearms on his knees, his broad chest rising and falling with a heavy, deliberate breath.

"So if the Dowager Luna already knows that Adeline’s body rejected your blood after healing, Raven..." Zyran murmured, his voice dropping into a sharp, calculated register. "Then it won’t be long before she finds out about Keiran’s rejection, too. In fact, she probably already knows."

Blake sat up straight, a cold, heavy realization dawning on his face as his gaze darted rapidly between the other three princes.

"So, tomorrow night’s grand family dinner isn’t just a normal dinner with the four thrones gathering... it’s a trial, isn’t it? A calculated setup by the Matriach."

"It’s an interrogation," Raven growled, standing up and taking a heavy, deliberate step across the cold, polished stone floor. His broad shoulders were rigid with suppressed rage, his black shirt still unbuttoned at the chest, revealing the thick muscle beneath.

"The moment all four Lycan Royal lines sit around that grand table tomorrow night, the elders are going to bring up the blood rejection. They are going to demand immediate answers from us. They’ll question why sacred, royal Lycan blood was spilled just to heal a scentless, wolfless rogue who shouldn’t have even survived the night in the first place."

"And if the council finds out that she is completely wolfless?" Blake asked, his voice tightening with a sharp, palpable concern as he dragged a hand through his hair. "Do you honestly think those old bastards will just sit back and let it slide?"

Keiran shifted on the leather sofa, his dark gaze locked intensely on Raven, his knuckles white against his knees.

"Blake is right, Raven. If the Matriarch already knows about the blood rejections, it means the council or the elders could find out at any second. And the moment they discover she’s wolfless, that a broken, dormant-soul female has somehow triggered a double fated bond with two Royal Lycan heirs, they won’t see it as a miracle of the ancient lore. They’ll see it as a absolute abomination that threatens the purity of the royal thrones."

"They’ll do far worse than just call it an abomination," Blake pushed, leaning forward until his elbows rested on his knees, his eyes darting frantically between the other Princes.

"If they realize her body is actively fighting the royal bloodline while she carries no wolf to protect her own soul, they won’t just look down on her as some weak, nameless rogue. They will view her as a direct liability to the empire, a dangerous, unpredictable flaw in the royal lineage."

"They will use every bit of their power to try to manipulate us into rejecting her entirely, or worse... the second they sense we refuse to let her go, they’ll declare her an absolute threat to the throne and hunt her down like prey before the bond takes full hold," Keiran said, as his gaze fixed on Raven.

"No one is hunting her," Raven interjected coldly. "But you are right If they smell even a fraction of vulnerability in our bloodlines, they will move in the shadows to eliminate the distraction before it weakens our reign. But they won’t touch her. No one will." Raven sat down on his couch, leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his dark gaze fixed on the center table.

Zyran raised a skeptical brow, looking over at Raven. "And how can you be so damn sure about that, Raven? The Dowager Luna is traditionally the most ruthless, conservative protector of Lycan bloodline purity in the entire realm. If she sees a flaw, she destroys it. Why wouldn’t she cut out what she clearly views as a weakness?"

"Except there’s one vital detail you’re all completely forgetting," Raven continued, a quiet, terrifyingly possessive expression crossed his sharp, handsome features as he looked at the other Princes. "The Dowager Luna of the Second Throne isn’t like the rest of that pathetic, power-hungry council. She explicitly commanded me to protect Adeline at all costs. We owe her that."

Zyran narrowed his eyes, leaning back against the cushions as he studied Raven’s intense glare. "What do you mean by that, Raven? It won’t matter when it comes to eliminating the weak."

"Over the past one year, I’ve watched the Matriarch, How close she was with Adeline, she personally helped Adeline to heal," Raven revealed, his voice steady, low, and heavy with absolute conviction.

"I’ve seen her interact with Adeline in the quiet corridors when she thought no one else was paying attention. She hasn’t been keeping distance. She has been keeping Adeline close, monitoring her every move, protecting her from behind the scenes, and treating that girl with a strange kind of deference. The Dowager Luna doesn’t view Adeline as some fragile rogue threat to be eliminated from the lineage. Not before, and definitely not now."

Blake furrowed his brows, leaning forward as confusion clouded his face. "So why would she order a grand gathering with all Four Thrones the very second she heard about the blood rejection? She even went out of her way to tell you directly about the rejection, Raven. What is her angle?"

Raven said, a small, dangerous smirk slowly curving his lips as he looked around at the other Princes. "She wants me to know that Adeline’s body rejected my blood after healing. She knew I was desperately searching for answers, trying to figure out whether Adeline’s body accepted my blood or threw it up."

"She didn’t do it to expose Adeline," Raven continued. "She did it to provoke me. She wanted to see if I was blind, or if I had already realized what Adeline really is to this empire."

"So you think she brought up the blood rejection during your call just to test your reaction?" Keiran asked, leaning forward, his eyes flashing with a sudden, dangerous light in the dim vault. "You think she wanted to see how you would respond?"

"She brought it up to see how far I would go for her," Raven answered dark and possessively.