The walk to the throne room took longer than distance alone could explain and her mind was already racing as she thought about what they would ask.
The corridors widened as they ascended, stone giving way to polished obsidian veined with old gold sigils that did not glow so much as breathe. These were not defensive wards or simple displays of authority, but agreements etched into the structure itself, contracts between the city and those who ruled it. Every step forward felt like entering a place that remembered everything.
The girl felt it immediately. The air grew heavier, not oppressive, but deliberate, as if each breath was being weighed. Her core responded in kind, a low, steady thrum beneath her ribs, neither alarm nor hunger, but awareness sharpening to a fine edge.
Selene walked beside her, unhurried, her presence a constant anchor. She did not speak, but her attention never wavered, occasionally flicking toward the girl when the wards reacted a second too late.
They reached the outer gates of the throne chamber and paused before the doors could open, the girl felt it.
Not the nameless weight beneath the city or the distant attention from beyond, but something closer, cleaner, and far more human. Intent brushed against her senses, sharp with curiosity, suspicion, and a faint thread of something else she could not immediately name.
Selene's expression tightened almost imperceptibly.
"You feel them," Selene said quietly.
"Yes," the girl replied just as softly. "They are… listening already."
Selene nodded once. "Good. Remember that these royals will not hesitate if they find something that they do not like."
She nodded and the guards opened the door.
The throne room was vast without being over the top, its ceiling arching high enough to disappear into shadow, the walls etched with histories rather than banners. At the far end, the thrones rested not on a dais but on level ground, an intentional design choice meant to suggest balance rather than dominance, though the illusion did not hold long.
The king and queen sat together, not touching, not distant, their presence radiating a kind of controlled gravity that reminded her uncomfortably of Selene when she was truly angry. Behind and around them stood the inner council, robed figures arranged in a loose semicircle, each one a quiet center of influence.
And all of them turned toward her at once.
The girl resisted the instinct to bare her teeth.
She stepped forward anyway, her tail swaying behind her with deliberate calm, ears upright, posture steady. She did not bow, but she did incline her head, acknowledging without submitting, and she felt something in the room shift in response.
"Interesting," murmured a voice somewhere deep in her awareness, not a whisper, not a command, but an observation. She ignored it.
The queen was the first to speak.
"You do not look like what we expected," she said, her voice cool and measured, eyes sharp with assessment rather than judgment.
The girl met her gaze evenly. "That seems to be a common problem."
A ripple moved through the council, not laughter, but surprise, followed by something closer to interest.
The king leaned forward slightly. "You were brought here under protection," he said. "You have triggered systems that have not responded in centuries. You have drawn attention from forces we have spent generations containing."
He paused, letting the weight of that settle.
"And yet," he continued, "you stand here unafraid."
The girl considered lying, then decided against it. "I'm afraid," she said honestly. "I just don't see the point in letting it make my decisions for me."
That did it and the room reacted, not with power, but with recognition.
Selene exhaled slowly at her side, a tension she had not known she was holding easing just slightly.
The queen exchanged a glance with the king, something unspoken passing between them, before she turned her attention back to Selene.
"You withheld information," the queen said.
"Yes," Selene replied without hesitation. "Strategically."
"And you tracked her."
"Yes."
"And you brought her here anyway."
Selene's jaw set. "Because keeping her hidden was no longer protection. It was negligence and I gave her my word, she is not the enemy. I will stand guarantee of that."
Silence followed her words, the council members exchanged glances and the girl's eyes widened.
Then one of the councilors stepped forward, his voice smooth and carefully neutral. "You are aware," he said to the girl, "that beings like you do not remain unclaimed for long."
Her core pulsed once, steady and defiant.
"I'm becoming aware," she replied. "And I'm also aware that you're trying to decide whether to cage me, experiment on what I really am, use me, or pretend I don't exist."
Another shift ran through the chamber, sharper this time and she let out a growl.
Selene glanced at her, something like pride flickering through her eyes before she masked it.
The king leaned back, studying her as though seeing something that did not fit into any known pattern.
"There is a fifth option," he said at last.
"I'm listening." The girl said as she turned to them and tilted her head.
"We allow you to remain within the city," the queen said. "Under observation, yes, you can stay with Selene. You will not be bound, but you will not act unchecked, you will work with and for us, if it comes to that or if something else happens."
"And if I refuse?" She asked, her brows furrowed.
The king's gaze hardened. "Then forces far less patient than us will attempt to make that decision for you, we do not let assets slip through our fingers and our terms are similar to the ones Selene had first gievn you and your response is almost similar too."
The truth in his words rang clear, she sighed as she considered the room, the council, the thrones, and Selene standing beside her like her personal bodyguard. They were right, even she had once put her in such a position.
Then she smiled, slow and sharp.
"I don't like being watched," she said. "But I like being hunted even less."
A murmur rippled through the council.
The queen nodded once. "Then we are on the same page. For now."
For now.
The phrase echoed louder than any decree, she was now on a tight leash, one that would hinder her growth if she was not careful. She had no intention of letting anyone hold her back and she would use them if that was what it took to get up in this world.