Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Chapter 58

Veronica stared at her son, who seemed to have gotten even worse.

He barely looked at her, his shoulders tense and stiff, his entire body carrying the weight of someone who had spent the entire day fighting battles he had not expected to face.

It had been a year since she had last seen him.

A year.

And somehow, in the short time since she had returned, she already felt as though she were looking at a stranger wearing her son’s face.

Veronica slowly lowered herself into one of the chairs in the receiving room and gestured toward the seat opposite her.

"Sit."

Lucien didn’t move.

"I don’t have time to sit, Luna," he said stiffly, as though being in her presence was punishment. "I have a First Houses member waiting on me, and a realm hemorrhaging silver by the hour."

"Then perhaps you’ll tell me while you stand."

Veronica remained exactly where she was, composed and completely unbothered by his attitude.

"What is this I hear about the Celestial Realm blocking our trade? An entire border closed to us for weeks now?"

Lucien’s jaw tightened so hard the veins in his head nearly popped out. "It’s being handled."

Veronica raised her eyebrows. "Is it? Because from where I’m standing, it appears to be handling you."

Lucien’s jaw tightened. "I don’t require your assessment of my governance."

"And yet you’re receiving it regardless, because someone in this pack house clearly needs to say it aloud." Veronica folded her hands in her lap. "Is that why Alpha Cedric has come? To discuss how well you’re handling it?"

Lucien turned toward her fully then, something hard and tired in his expression. "You’ve been back one hour, Luna. One hour, and already you’ve managed to make it unbearable."

"What?"

"Perhaps you should have stayed on your pilgrimage a while longer."

For a moment, Veronica simply stared at him. Her expression did not change immediately, but something behind her eyes did.

Their relationship had become even more strained after the incident that had driven a wedge between them, and she had long since learned that Lucien’s anger often came out in ways he regretted later.

Still, hearing those words after a year apart hurt more than she allowed him to see.

"I’ll pretend as though I didn’t just hear that."

Lucien looked away. He had expected an argument, but instead, her composure somehow irritated him more.

"Mother—"

"Do not call me that when you are speaking to me like an enemy." Veronica snapped.

Lucien’s gaze snapped back to hers. "An enemy? You sure do have a way of dramatizing things, don’t you, Luna?"

"No?" Veronica asked. "Then perhaps you should listen to yourself."

He took a deep breath. Clearly, he was on edge from all that had happened today. "I’ll leave you be now, Mother. I expect you to stay out of my affairs just as I’ve stayed out of yours for this long."

He turned to leave, but Veronica couldn’t have it—being dismissed as though she were a filthy cockroach.

"I raised you to lead, Lucien," she said, her voice cutting through the room before he could reach the door. "Not to run from a conversation the moment it grows uncomfortable."

He stopped, his back still to her, his shoulders tight.

"You want to leave? Fine. But do not walk out of this room believing I don’t already know exactly why the First Houses is bleeding—why merchants are whispering that your word is no longer worth trusting, why Alphas who once lobbied for a seat at your table are signing terms with Valemont and Bloodmoon instead." Her voice stayed level, though something sharper crept beneath it now. "Your father would never have let his pride cost him this much. Not the pack. Not the realm."

Lucien turned back slowly. "Don’t speak of him as though you knew what he would have done in my place."

"I knew him for thirty years, Lucien. I watched him build every alliance this realm now stands on, brick by brick, out of nothing but patience and the sense to know when his pride wasn’t worth the cost of keeping it." Her gaze didn’t waver. "He would have swallowed it whole before he let either one crumble to protect his own comfort. Wake up. Everything you’ve built is falling apart in front of you, and what are you doing?" She shook her head. "Pathetic." She spat out.

Something in Lucien’s expression cracked, sharply, but it was gone just as quick as it came.

"Careful, Luna." His voice had gone low, dangerous in a way it rarely did around her. "I am still the Supreme Alpha of this realm, whatever you think of how I’ve handled it."

"Then act like one." Veronica rose from her seat. "Restore the realm to what it once was. Protect my Alpha’s legacy, Lucien."

Lucien’s chest rose and fell rapidly, his face hardened. He stormed out of the room without a second thought.

Veronica stood there, her face morphing back into the calm it was used to. Lucien and she never really did get along, even though he was her only child, and so she was used to this... but this time, there was something at stake. The realm.

Still in her thoughts, Ashira walked past the room she stood in.

"General." She called, and the other froze, turning to look at her.

"Yes, Luna."

Veronica gestured for her to come. "Come here, will you?"

Ashira stepped into the room, arms crossed behind her. "How can I help you, Luna?"

"Who is behind this? Who is threatening years of hard work of this realm?" she asked.

At this, Ashira frowned. She hated even thinking of the said woman. She hesitated slightly. "Luna, I’m afraid learning of her won’t—"

"Her?" Veronica interjected quickly.

Ashira blinked, taken aback. "Yes, Luna."

"You mean to tell me the one who has turned this pack—this realm—upside down is a woman?"

Ashira’s jaw tightened. "Yes, Luna."

"And who is this woman?" Veronica’s voice had sharpened considerably, something calculating settling into her expression now.

"Evelyn Valemont."