Free Web NovelChapter 22: Chapter 22 The Decree
_Rowena’s POV_
The elder was midway through the formal binding words when the doors suddenly opened.
Not the side doors or the service entrance. It was the main doors, both of them pushed wide with the kind of authority that didn’t need to announce itself because of the arrival of the person.
The room felt it immediately. Every wolf in that hall, and there were many of them, went still, a sign that someone else important just walked in. Heads turned immediately and conversations died.
When I glanced at who the powerful figure was, I felt my breath get cut for a minutes as Alaric walked in.
Alpha King. No formal regalia or ceremonial guard, just Alaric in a dark suit with two of his people a step behind him, moving through the parted crowd unhurriedly.
He scanned the hall once then his eyes found me before they found Kaelen.
I held his gaze for exactly one second, then looked at the front of the room. My face was still, but my heartbeat accelerated for no reason. My hands were folded in my lap. Beside me, Pierre had straightened almost imperceptibly, the posture of a man recognizing that whatever he’d expected from this afternoon, it wasn’t this. Definitely wasn’t.
Kaelen had turned from the arch.
His expression was controlled but the muscle in his jaw had tightened, and I knew that particular tension well enough to read it, surprise and underneath it was something that was working very hard not to look like alarm.
Virella stood beside him with her bouquet and her perfect composure and eyes that had gone very still.
Alaric stopped in the center of the hall.
“Alpha Kaelen.” His voice carried without effort. “ Virella. Congratulations on this occasion.”
The room breathed again, fractionally and carefully.
“Alpha King.” Kaelen inclined his head. “We’re honored by your presence.”
“I won’t keep you long.” His assistant reached into his jacket and produced two documents. Separately. He held the first one up. “A formal commendation from the King’s office to Alpha Kaelen Varkos for his service in resolving the eastern territory dispute. Moonreign Pack’s contribution is noted in the regional record.”
Someone started to applaud. Others joined. The room found its footing again, briefly.
Kaelen accepted the commendation with gratitude of a man who understood that a gift from the King’s office came was very significant.
The assistant held up the second document.
“And this,” he said, “is a separate matter.”
The applause faded.
“A decree of dissolution, effective immediately, ending the marriage between Alpha Kaelen Varkos and Luna Rowena Ashthorne.” He paused, not for effect but just for clarity. “Additionally, by the authority of the Alpha King’s office, Rowena Ashthorne is hereby granted the title of Marchioness, with full rights to the Ashthorne name and holdings, the right to inherit her family’s title, and the right to choose a mate to marry into her family line on her own terms.”
The hall went completely silent.
The genuine airless silence of a room full of people recalibrating everything they thought they knew. No one had expected that.
Alaric crossed the room and stopped in front of me.
I stood up slowly.
He held the decree out. His eyes were steady and gave nothing unnecessary away, but there was something in them I didn’t want to admit. The look of someone who had done a thing carefully and was watching to see if it landed where intended.
I took the document. Read the relevant lines once and quickly, confirming what I already knew was there.
Then I signed it and handed it back.
“Thank you, Alpha King,” I said.
He inclined his head slightly. “Marchioness.”
Behind me, the room erupted.
Not loudly, pack gatherings didn’t erupt the way human events did. But the sound level rose, chairs moving, and voices overlapping.
“She can’t.....”
“Did he just.....”
“The King himself.....”
“Rowena....” fгeewebnovёl.com
Kaelen’s voice cut through from the front of the room.
“I haven’t signed anything.”
His voice was controlled but the control was costing him. He was standing at the arch with the commendation in one hand and nothing in the other and the expression of a man who had just watched the ground shift under him and was refusing to move his feet.
Alaric turned to look at him patiently..
“Your signature isn’t required,” He said simply. “The dissolution was filed on grounds of incomplete bond and compromised Luna standing. Both were verified by my office. Pack law does not require the Alpha’s consent when the King’s decree has been issued.”
“This is my marriage,” Kaelen gritted out.
“It was,” Alaric said calmly. “As of this document, it is concluded.” freeωebnovēl.c૦m
Kaelen looked at me.
I looked back at him.
“You went to him,” he said. Not a question. Something underneath it that I couldn’t fully identify, anger, yes, but threaded through with something rawer than that.
“I told you I would find another way,” I said calmly. “You didn’t believe me.”
“Rowena.....”
“I don’t want you, Kaelen.” I said it clearly, without heat, without performance. The way you state a fact that has been true for a while and simply needed saying out loud. “I haven’t wanted this marriage since the night you came home and told me I had no say in it. I don’t need your consent and I don’t need your signature and I don’t need anything from you that isn’t in the loan agreement you signed last week.”
Someone in the hall laughed, short and quickly swallowed.
Virella had not moved. She was standing at the arch with her bouquet and her stillness. I could see the satisfaction underneath it clearly. She had wanted me gone. Now I was gone and it had cost her nothing.
That was fine. Let her have it.
The Varkos family, ranged along the front tables, looked like they had collectively forgotten how to breathe. Maelis was gripping her armrest. Elvira’s mouth was open. Elira had her hands pressed flat on the table and was looking at them.
Pierre, still seated beside my now-empty chair, was watching all of it with the expression of a man who had come expecting a routine wedding and had instead gotten the most interesting afternoon he’d had in years.
He caught my eye and raised his water glass slightly.
I almost smiled.
Kaelen took a step toward me. “This isn’t over.”
“It is,” I said. “It was over before today. Today just made it official.”
I picked up my bag from the chair. Nodded once to Pierre, who stood briefly in acknowledgment. Looked at Alaric, who was watching me with that same careful steadiness.
“I’ll be in touch regarding the Ashthorne formalities,” I said to him.
“My office will send the paperwork tomorrow,” he said.
I walked toward the doors.
The crowd parted for me.
Behind me, I heard Kaelen say my name once more.
But I didn’t stop.
