Free Web NovelChapter 704: The Truth on the Platform
Chapter 703: The Truth on the Platform
Sophia smiled at Orion, and then she nodded.
"I am not backing down from this," she said.
Orion held her gaze for a moment longer, searching for something—doubt, fear, hesitation perhaps—but he found none.
He nodded then, a smile on his face.
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The square was full.
Word had spread quickly after the vision. Pack members had gathered in clusters, their breath fogging in the cold afternoon air, their eyes fixed on the platform where Sophia had collapsed just hours before. The snow fell steadily now, soft and relentless, dusting shoulders and hair and the edges of the raised wooden structure.
Sophia climbed the steps alone. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
Orion remained at the base, close enough to reach her if needed, far enough to let her stand on her own. The elders had positioned themselves around the edges of the square, their presence a quiet reassurance rather than an imposition.
The crowd watched her in silence.
Hundreds of eyes tracked her movement as she crossed the platform and turned to face them. The wind tugged at her cloak, pulling strands of dark hair across her face. She did not push them away.
For a moment, she simply looked at them.
At the people who had welcomed her. Who had doubted her. Who had fed her and fought beside her and called her names and defended her name. At the family she had found and almost lost and was determined to keep.
Then she spoke.
"I am sure you all saw me collapse right there on this platform earlier today."
A few people shifted. Others nodded.
"For those of you who did not," Sophia continued, a faint smile tugging at her lips, "I am quite sorry you missed it. It was quite a spectacle."
A handful of people chuckled. The sound was small, but it loosened something in the air.
Sophia’s smile faded.
"I have answered the main question you had for me. Yes, I am Victoria’s daughter. But I am Sophia. And I hate my mother."
The words landed heavily, but she did not let them stop her.
"This pack taught me that family does not have to be blood. I may not be related to any of you by birth, but I have a family here. Because you saw me. You understood me. You gave me a chance when you did not have to."
She paused, letting her gaze sweep across the crowd.
"But that is not why I am standing here today." frёewebηovel.cѳm
The murmurs began again, low and uncertain.
"I am here to tell you what I saw."
She took a deep breath.
"There is a war coming."
The murmurs swelled. People turned to each other, voices rising in confusion and fear. Sophia did not wait for them to settle.
"There is a war coming," she repeated, louder this time, "and we have at most a month to prepare. Thirty days. Perhaps twenty-eight. But no more than that."
Someone near the front shouted, "Who is bringing the war?"
Sophia met his gaze.
"My mother. And the Enclave."
The crowd erupted.
"And it is because they are bitter," Sophia continued, her voice cutting through the noise, "that the Nightshade Pack still stands. They tried to destroy us twenty years ago, and they failed. Now they want to try again."
A man near the middle of the square pushed forward, his face red with anger.
"How do we know the war is not because of you?" he shouted. "You are her daughter! Perhaps you led her here!"
Before Sophia could respond, another voice rang out from the opposite side.
"Shut your mouth, you fool!"
"Maybe if you go back to your mother, the war wouldn’t even happen," another man shouted.
"Yes, the war is likely because of her," someone agreed.
A voice answered immediately.
"Twenty years ago, when Sophia was not even in this pack, the Enclave still attacked us. It is not because of her. It has never been because of her."
Arguments broke out across the square. Voices overlapped, some defending Sophia, others demanding she leave, others simply trying to make sense of what they were hearing.
Sophia stood still, waiting.
Then a woman near the front spoke, quieter than the others, but her words cut through the noise.
"If she is the Luna from the prophecy, why does she not look like it?"
The crowd quieted slightly.
"Why does she not have white hair?"
Sophia opened her mouth to answer when a growl rumbled through the square.
It was low and deep, vibrating through the snow and the stone and the bodies of everyone present. The sound did not come from the forest or the gates. It came from the base of the platform.
Orion stepped forward.
His eyes were cold, his jaw tight, his presence pressing against the crowd like a physical force.
"Enough," he said, and immediately everyone went silent.
He climbed the steps slowly, deliberately, until he stood beside Sophia. He looked out at the gathered pack members, his gaze sweeping across their faces without haste.
"I have let you do what you wanted for a while," he said.
His voice was calm, but the calm of a man holding back a storm.
"You attacked Sophia this morning. You called her names. You demanded she leave. And I said nothing."
He paused.
"Because I wanted you to see her stand on her own."
His eyes hardened.
"But I will not let you rewrite the truth."
He turned slightly, gesturing toward Sophia.
"You all know who I am. You know what I can do. I detect lies. I cannot tell them, and neither can anyone close to me—not when I am in hearing range. You have seen it. You have tested it. You know it is real."
No one argued.
"Then hear me now."
His voice rose, not in volume, but in authority.
"Everything Sophia has said since she stepped onto this platform is the truth. Every word. Every warning. Every fear. It is all true."
