Chapter 678: Blood and Accusations

Sophia swallowed nervously as she stared at Madam Tyler.

"Yes," she said in a small voice. "Victoria is my mother."

There was silence in the hall. No one said anything for a while, and Sophia could hear her heartbeat echoing in her ears. She was nervous, extremely so.

She had no idea how long the silence lasted before Daniel finally spoke.

"Is this some joke?" he asked icily.

Sophia turned to him. The tone of his voice had changed drastically, and the look on his face was unfamiliar. He was not the Daniel she knew in that moment.

"No," she said softly. "Everything I’ve said is the truth."

Daniel let out a short, humorless chuckle.

"No," he shook his head again. "This has to be a joke."

Mary nodded slowly beside him.

"Did Ronan put you up to this?" she asked Sophia. "If this is one of his pranks, it is not funny."

"It is not a prank..."

Mary slammed her hand on the table, the sound echoing sharply through the hall.

"Fucking say it is," she shouted. "Say it is a joke. Lie to me. Lie to all of us."

Sophia went quiet. Then she shook her head.

"It is not a joke," she said softly. "Ronan did not put me up to this."

Daniel’s expression twisted with anger.

"So what you are telling us right now," Mary said, her voice shaking with fury, "is that the same woman who destroyed our pack—the same woman who haunted us, who forced us to live here, who made us lose families, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts—is the same fucking person who birthed you?"

Sophia nodded slowly.

Mary shook her head.

"No," she said firmly. "This is stupid. This is bullshit. And I would rather believe this is not real than believe Orion brought an enemy into our pack."

"I am sorry," Sophia said quietly.

"And what is your fucking apology supposed to do?" Daniel asked angrily.

He pushed his chair back and stood up abruptly.

"You know what? Just leave the pack instead. We cannot have you here. Go back where you came from." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Come on, old man, that is fucking unreasonable," Ronan said immediately.

"Unreasonable?" Daniel snapped, turning on him. "The person who is the future Luna of our pack, the luna from the prophecy, the one supposed to save us is the daughter of our enemy. And she is sitting here eating our food and drinking our water, and you call me unreasonable? Her mother killed your family."

"Her mother, not her," Ronan argued sharply. "Come on dad, be reasonable. "

"I support Daniel," Mary said coldly. "It is better she leaves, especially after what we have suffered at the hands of her mother."

"That is fucking unreasonable," Ronan repeated.

"Is that what the rest of you think?" Orion asked calmly.

Eldric adjusted his glasses slowly.

"I am not saying she should leave," he said carefully, "but I cannot deny that it would be better if she did. Her mother destroyed families. We cannot ignore that."

"She stays," Brynhild said firmly. "I am with Ronan."

"Of course you are," Mary snapped. "You are all one happy little family, aren’t you?"

"I will need time to process this," Caspian said with a sigh. "I am... conflicted. Sophia feels like a representation of her mother right now, and I will not lie, I am resentful."

"I am annoyed too," Madam Tyler said quietly. "But I will need time to think."

"What are you thinking about?" Daniel asked sharply.

"Whether Sophia stays or not," Madam Tyler replied evenly.

"Her mother killed your family. Your children are no longer here because of her."

"Her mother, Daniel," Madam Tyler said firmly. "Not her. That is exactly why I need time to think."

"Mary, go ahead and insult me if you want," Tobias said suddenly, "but Sophia is not leaving."

Mary scoffed.

"Insult me too," Lysander added calmly. "Because she is not going anywhere."

"Her mother ordered the destruction of our pack," Daniel said, anger still burning in his voice.

Then he turned sharply toward Ronan.

"You support her even after everything? Your brother died because of what Victoria did. Your mother suffered. And yet you still support her?"

"Fuck this shit!" Ronan exploded, standing up abruptly.

The chair scraped loudly behind him.

He turned fully to his father.

"Do you even have the right to be angry?" Ronan asked, voice shaking with fury.

"My family was killed," Daniel snapped. "Of course I—"

"You were not there!" Ronan cut him off sharply.

Silence fell again but heavier this time.

"When it happened, you were not there," Ronan continued. "When our home was attacked, when Ryker hid me, when Mum fought even though she knew she would lose, you were not there. You were never there. You were the second-in-command first, and a father second."

Daniel’s expression tightened.

"I did the best I could," he said through clenched teeth.

Ronan laughed bitterly.

"Your best was not enough. Not even close."

His voice cracked slightly, but he continued anyway.

"You left us to protect the successor of the pack. And I am grateful for that because one of my best friends is alive because of it. But you were not rhe father you are now, not really. You do not get to stand there and be angry at someone innocent for what her mother did when you were hardly even present for your own family in the first place."

"I did what I had to—" Daniel began.

"No," Ronan said sharply. "You did what you chose. And now you do not get to decide how we deal with the consequences."

The hall was silent.

Tension pressed against every breath.

Ronan’s hands were clenched at his sides, shaking slightly.

Daniel did not respond immediately.

"You will support Sophia even after everything we suffered?" He asked Ronan softly. "After everything her mother did to us us?"

"Yes, I’ll support my sister. The one person who will put her life at risk to ensure we all fucking survived." Ronan replied his father.