By dawn, thousands of wolves surrounded Redblood Castle.
Conroy soldiers abandoned their weapons.
Some fled.
Others bowed.
Marcus Conroy was dragged before Katherine.
He looked terrified.
“You can't do this.”
Katherine stared at him.
“You had years to stop what happened to me.”
“I was following orders.”
“Whose?”
Marcus looked toward Adrian.
Adrian had been captured.
For the first time, the powerful lord looked afraid.
Katherine turned to him.
“Tell them.”
Adrian remained silent.
Diana stepped forward.
“You wanted control.”
She raised Julius's ledger.
“Now everyone knows why.”
Thomas read the evidence aloud.
Payments.
Secret meetings.
False orders.
The forged death decree.
The Conroy alliance.
The abuse of Katherine had not been random cruelty.
It had been part of a larger plan to locate Julius's bloodline and use Katherine as a key.
The wolves listened.
Then Elena Conroy stepped forward.
“I knew.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Mother?”
“I knew Adrian betrayed Julius.”
Diana's eyes hardened.
“And you did nothing.”
Elena lowered her head.
“I was afraid.”
Diana looked at Katherine.
The young woman nodded.
Diana understood.
Forgiveness could wait.
Justice could not.
Marcus was stripped of his title.
Adrian was imprisoned.
The Conroy pack was placed under a new council.
And Diana stood before the gathered wolves.
For the first time in fifteen years, someone placed the crown on her head.
The crowd roared.
But Diana immediately removed it.
She turned to Katherine.
“This belongs to you.”
Katherine shook her head.
“No.”
Diana smiled.
“You're not ready.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
Diana placed the crown back on her own head.
“Then we will rule together until you are.”
Katherine smiled.
Mother and daughter stood side by side.
But Thomas suddenly approached.
“Your Majesty.”
Diana turned.
“What?”
He held a final letter.
“We found this inside Julius's old armor.”
Diana opened it.
Her hands began shaking.
The letter contained only one sentence.
If Katherine has awakened the First Wolf, then my death was not the end of the war.
Diana looked toward the eastern mountains.
A distant howl answered.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
The Redblood banner rose over the horizon—but the wolves carrying it were not Diana's enemies. They were an army Julius had secretly gathered before his disappearance.