Jonathan’s head hit the floor first.

Marjorie followed, her descent slow and stiff, her palms pressing flat against the carpet. She reached sideways without looking and grabbed Sabrina’s arm and pulled. Sabrina’s jaw tightened. Marjorie pulled harder. Sabrina went down, slowly, her eyes dropping to the floor.

’’Please.’’ Jonathan’s voice shook. ’’We beg the pack’s forgiveness. What we did was unforgivable.’’ His voice broke on the last word, catching somewhere in his throat before he pushed through it. ’’We sent her to die and there is no justification for it. None. We were wrong. We were deeply, terribly wrong and we throw ourselves at your mercy.’’

Marjorie pressed her hands together against the carpet.

’’We have shamed ourselves,’’ she said, her voice barely audible. ’’We have shamed our family. We ask only that you show us the grace we do not deserve.’’

Sabrina said nothing.

Her eyes were fixed on the carpet in front of her, her lower lip caught between her teeth, and she bit down until she tasted blood. The Alpha had not looked at her once since she walked through those doors. Not once. Like she was a piece of furniture. Like she was nothing at all. He’d stood at that altar and placed the crown on Nina’s head with Sabrina’s voice still ringing through the hall, and he hadn’t even flinched.

He had chosen Nina.

Even knowing. Even after everything.

Sabrina’s throat was so tight she could barely swallow. By tonight, every family in the Vermont Pack would know what she had done, and who would want her after that? What was left for her? Her shoulders trembled and she pressed her hands harder into the carpet and said nothing.

The Matriarch was quiet for a long moment. Then she straightened in her chair and looked at the three of them on the floor.

’’Only the Alpha and the Luna can forgive you,’’ she said. ’’This concerns them.’’

Their heads lifted slowly. Jonathan’s eyes went to Rodrigo. Marjorie’s went to Nina. Sabrina kept her eyes on the floor.

Rodrigo looked at them, his face giving nothing away.

’’We ask for your forgiveness, Alpha,’’ Jonathan said again.

Nina sat with her hands folded in her lap, watching her parents on the floor in front of her. She said nothing.

’’Your crime is unforgivable,’’ Rodrigo said, his voice even and unhurried. ’’However, because this involves the life of your own child, you will be forgiven.’’ He paused, letting the word sit. ’’But the rewards will be retracted. The gold and the lands given to your family will be returned in full. You will no longer hold a seat as a founding family.’’

Marjorie’s face went white. She turned to Jonathan, then her eyes went to Nina.

Nina held her gaze. Slowly, the corner of her lips curved.

Marjorie’s nostrils flared, her teeth pressing together, her eyes going dark as she stared back at her.

A moment passed, then Jonathan bowed his head stiffly toward the floor.

’’Thank you,’’ he said. ’’Thank you, Alpha.’’

Rodrigo stood. His eyes moved to Nina, holding hers briefly.

’’For disrupting the Luna coronation today,’’ he said, ’’whatever the Luna decides holds.’’

He held her gaze one moment longer.

Then he walked out.

The Matriarch looked at the three of them still on the floor, then at Nina. Her eyes held hers for just a second, and then she stood and walked out and pulled the door shut behind her.

The room went quiet. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Nobody moved. No one made a sound. Then slowly, one by one, they raised their heads to look at her. Jonathan with his hollowed out expression. Marjorie with her jaw tight and her eyes burning. Sabrina still staring at the carpet, her shoulders drawn in, her hands shaking against her knees.

Nina looked at them all.

Something rose in her chest, pushing up through her ribs, and she pressed her lips together and tried to hold it down. She really did try.

She couldn’t.

She burst out laughing, her head tipping back, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes as the laughter took over, loud and real and completely uncontrolled. She pressed a hand to her chest and laughed until she had to breathe, and then she looked at the three of them still staring at her from the floor and she laughed again.

’’Oh, don’t mind me,’’ she said, wiping the corner of her eye. ’’It’s just funny, seeing you three on your knees in front of the servant’s daughter.’’

She looked at them one after the other, then crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side.

’’Who would have thought,’’ she said pleasantly. ’’What are you going to do?’’

Her finger tapped slowly against her arm as she waited.

’’I’m listening,’’ she said, lifting a brow.

Marjorie’s eyes were dark and unblinking, her face pale, her nose flaring as she stared at Nina. Then slowly, with every muscle in her body working against it, she lowered her head. Jonathan followed.

Nina’s eyes drifted to Sabrina.

Her shoulders were shaking, her fingers pressed white into the carpet, but her head was still up, her eyes fixed on Nina with something hot and bright burning in them.

Nina’s eyes narrowed. ’’Is that how to beg?’’

Sabrina’s shoulders stiffened. She drew a slow breath through her nose and dropped her gaze to the floor. Barely an inch.

Nina looked at her for a long moment, then smiled. She turned to the guard standing by the door.

’’Please show her how to go low,’’ she said pleasantly. ’’Her back must be stiff.’’

Sabrina’s head snapped up, her eyes going wide, and before she could form a single word the guard had already crossed the room. He reached down and pressed her head firmly toward the floor until her forehead met the carpet with a dull sound.

Sabrina shrieked, struggling against his grip, but he held her there.

Nina grinned, crossing her legs.

’’Now, now,’’ she said. ’’That’s more like it.’’