Page 99 of Moon Kissed

“Wait, why does he get to be judged by only alphas?” Tracy demanded, shooting up. “They’re just going to go easy on him.”

“They’re going to let him off!”

“It’s not fair,” someone shouted. “Daciana said—”

“Queen Daciana,” I called, “if you please.”

“Queen Daciana said the victims’ voices will be heard.”

Dang, she actually called me queen. Are all coups this easy? Why do the history books make it out to be so hard?

“The victim was an omega, the omegas should judge him.”

“Yeah, get the fuck up, Kitty! You too, Andre!”

I just sat back—watching the argument unfold. I really did think this part would be harder, but my fates handed me the key to victory, and they didn’t even mean to.

Well, of course the blackmail material I’d been painstakingly collecting from my time as high priestess listening to secrets in the temple, to my nighttime snooping—that part was pretty important. But blackmailing people is easy. The hard part would be getting them to accept my authority. To look to me as their... queen.

Holding trials was genius.

The omegas needed an outlet for their pain, oppression, and frustration. The betas needed more from life than being the sidekick in someone else’s story. The alphas needed to know that when the ship when down, they’d have a place on the lifeboat.

And I had all of the above. All they needed to do to get it was stop fighting, and accept the inevitable.

“Daciana, do something,” Devin asked. “Change the judges. Make it fair.”

Looking to me for fairness in a trial that wasn’t legal in any way? Oh yes, they’ve accepted the new queen in town.

“All right, then,” I said, rising up. “So that Nyx can’t say he wasn’t treated fairly, we’ll go half and half. Five alphas and five omegas. Even if the alphas all vote non-guilty, it’ll just give Nyx a chance to explain more about what was going on in his head when he beat and tortured his teammate, because he was taking his stuff out on everyone else.”

They voted eight to two for guilty, and in a surprising but welcome twist, the community decided his punishment would be for Nyx to experience everything he put me through.

“The best thing about you being a pinata bitch,” I called as a despondent Nyx was carried out to meet his fate, “is that you can’t phase. You’re going to feel every inch of that wood, baby.”

I hopped off my throne. “Let’s break for breakfast, everyone. I’ve got somewhere to be.”

After leaving the mess hall, I left the academy behind—shifting the minute paw met grass. I ended up spending the rest of the day with my project out in the woods. They didn’t need me for the trials with Ava there to keep everyone in line.

That night, I retreated to my new quarters.

Dagem was a shady, blackmailing, treacherous bitch of a wolf, but she had excellent taste.

Impossibly soft royal-blue and purple cashmere carpet swallowed my clothes. Heavy royal-blue drapes blocked out the sun, leaving me drenched in the tinkling lights of the crystal chandeliers. A throne of a bed dominated the space. The headboard was covered in golden upholstery and topped with a crowning jewel—which was actually a crown—carved beautifully into the wood.

Instead of a rinky-dink wardrobe, I had an incredibly huge walk-in closet that could fit my entire dorm. A quick run across to the door led me to my attached bathroom. Inside was a gold clawfoot tub, an infinity shower, ceiling-high mirrors, and every scented bath potion known to man and wolf. Seemed Dagem didn’t see the need to bring them since paradise had plenty of fancy soap.

Sighing contentedly, I padded out of my bathroom and climbed into bed. Eventually, I would have to do more as headmistress other than threaten and blackmail the staff, and bask in my new quarters, but there was plenty of time to worry about that.

I tipped over the side, reaching under the bed, and then I remembered.

Mom’s letters are gone.

A wave of grief bowled me over, spilling tears down my cheeks. If hating your fate with everything in your soul was enough to break the bond, my bond with Orion would’ve imploded a thousand times over with the destructive power of the sun crashing into earth.

You can’t fall apart like this,a hard voice said.There’s too much left to do. You have to stay focused.

The internal pep talk did nothing to improve my mood. Flipping over, I drew the sheets over my head and willed myself to sleep.

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