Chapter 707: The Oldest Law At This Table

Serena wasn’t entirely sure where Tiberon’s answer would land.

On one hand, the damage was already done. Drakenfell’s Crown Princess was sitting in Shadowclaw’s seat, which implied she was Shadowclaw’s Luna. Though she hadn’t outright said that, that was the political math. On the other hand, Tiberon had never once in his life let someone else define his position for him, and Serena had just defined it by sitting in this chair.

If he voted yes, Serena’s seat would be partially attributed to Drakenfell’s backing. If he rejected it and she held the seat anyway, her authority would be entirely self-made. Paradoxically, rejecting her could strengthen her position more than accepting it, because it would remove the "Drakenfell installed her" narrative permanently.

Serena stopped trying to figure out what Tiberon Drakenfell was thinking after a few seconds.

The room waited.

"Drakenfell abstains," he finally answered. "The conflict of interest is self-evident. This council does not need my vote to reach a decision, and my vote, in either direction, would compromise the integrity of the outcome. The remaining kingdoms will decide."

Serena would take that answer any day. She hadn’t considered that as an option and privately wondered if Nightspire was kicking himself for not thinking of that first.

Translation: Drakenfell wasn’t going to deny the relationship, which was an endorsement in and of itself. Drakenfell also wasn’t going to actively work against her. But Drakenfell wasn’t going to be the reason she sat in her chair. She would have to earn it without them.

She respected that.

When the final count had settled, it was ten accepts against seven rejects. The chair held. The margin was comfortable on paper and razor-thin in the room, because seven kingdoms had just voted against Shadowclaw’s representation and the seven were going to remember they voted against it and the remembering was going to have consequences that outlasted this council.

Hollowcrown’s jaw worked. The loss was producing a strategy rather than acceptance, and the strategy was already forming behind eyes that carried cruelty the way other men carried opinions.

"Then I invoke the right of challenge."

The room went cold.

"Under the charter of the Sovereign’s Council, any Alpha may challenge the seated representative for the right to occupy the chair. The challenge is answered by combat. The combat determines the seat. I challenge the seated representative of Shadowclaw for the right to the chair." The words came out of Hollowcrown a little too quickly, which made it seem like he had been waiting to deploy this contingency.

The hall erupted.

Alpha Blackvein’s fist hit the table. "This is a war council. We have eight kingdoms bleeding and you want to hold a goddamn duel."

"You lost a vote and now you want this. Sit down, Hollowcrown," Alpha Moonrend said, his voice carrying from across the table.

"You are an Alpha. And you are going to challenge a woman to a fight. Over a chair. At a war council. During a war. I want to make sure I have the sequence correct before I object to every part of it," Bloodmoon stated, voice flat.

"She’s injured. You can’t be serious," Garrett Darkhowler cut in, speaking for the first time.

More voices overlapped. Protests from three Alphas who had voted accept collided with procedural endorsements from two who had voted reject. The pews behind every delegation were stirring, Betas and Gammas exchanging looks that ranged from alarm to calculation to the grim assessment of military minds running the odds on a combat between an Alpha King and the girl sitting there.

Hollowcrown’s voice cut through the noise. "She wants the Alpha’s chair. Fine. This is a war council. The Alpha’s chair is earned, not inherited, not borrowed, and not voted into existence by a show of hands."

Moonrend let out a laugh. "You inherited your crown. Every Alpha at this table inherited their damn crown."

"If she is the sovereign she claims to be, she can defend the claim," Hollowcrown continued. "That is not an insult. That is the oldest law this table has. If she fought, and earned it, I would respect it. She claims to have fought last night. Prove it."

Tiberon was silent. Nightspire was silent. Serena was silent. Thinking. She was fine with taking the fight. But the fight would reveal she could channel flame and fabricate objects. She was not going to win on strength alone.

Then again, most of the people in this chamber had already seen her shoot Dark Fae with arrows, close a rift, and ride on dragons at the war summit. Most of them had even knelt for her after the battle. The short-term memory loss at this table could have powered a castle.

The more she thought about it, the clearer the answer was and the fewer fucks she gave about revealing her hand because she had already revealed it months ago.

She glanced at Beta Sharpe. Calculation was running behind his eyes. He stood.

"I am not stepping forward to replace the woman in that chair. I will step forward to defend her right to sit in it. That is my right as Beta, and I am invoking it."

Serena looked at Sharpe. The gratitude was real and deeper than she could express in this room. But gratitude did not change the math. Sharpe was a brilliant warrior and a better tactician, but he was a Beta. Hollowcrown was an Alpha, carrying Alpha strength and Alpha speed, and Serena had no intelligence on his fighting ability. She was not going to send Sharpe into a fight with unknown variables and a built-in physical disadvantage. That decided it.

She turned back to Hollowcrown. His surprise was visible. He had not been expecting the Beta to do that.

In that moment, Serena also realized that even if she did let Beta Sharpe represent her and he won, Hollowcrown would be losing to a Beta, not to her. Seven kingdoms had rejected her. No woman had sat in the Alpha’s chair at this table. If she was the first one to do it, then she would be the one who defended her right to be there.

If they wanted a show, they were going to get a goddamn show.

Done.

"Fighting to the death," Hollowcrown clarified.