Ada stood at the lectern with her eyes lowered and her arms wrapped protectively around her belly. She was nervous and it showed.　　"Lady Ava, you bring serious charges against your step-sister to this court." The female voice stated.　　Ada simply nodded without raising her eyes.　　"So, in your own words, tell us exactly what happened in the room with Ann."　　Ada took a shaky breath as Ann turned her gaze toward where she stood. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments and all Ann saw was the pure unadulterated hatred that burned there, before it was quickly replaced with the all too familiar, doe-eyed innocent look that usually graced her features.　　"Well, we went to see Ann with the intention of smoothing things over. I at least wanted to try one more time to make peace with her. I know I did wrong, and if I could turn back the clock then I would do things differently but… wishing things would be different… doesn't actually change anything." Ada said in a small voice as she sigh

　　"Once the incident was resolved, I never had cause to use it again, but it kept running and saving backups to the dedicated server and storage that we had set up. I knew what had happened in the office, but it was my word against Ada's so, having found this only recently, I wanted to offer you the opportunity to see it for yourselves." 　　"Preposterous! It will be nothing more than a fake designed to discredit Ada!" Leopold hissed from his seat.　　"Why would she go to all that trouble when Ada is doing such a good job of discrediting herself, Leopold?" A smooth female voice commented dryly.　　Ann took a deep breath and flicked her gaze to her father again.　　"I don't care that you've already disowned me, Leopold. You'll never hear me call you father again because you never afforded me the basic decency of impartiality. No matter what I said in the conflicts, Ada was always right, so this time, I have proof that she lies." 　　"Princess Ann, do not concern yourself with addressing the

　　The Elders had been true to their word and Ada had been partially released from the hold that they had placed on her and her panic stricken eyes showed just how aware she truly was.　　Maeve howled with satisfaction as they watched Narcissa and Ada confronted with evidence of their own schemes. Although Narcissa was not directly implicated in this particular recording, Ann didn't care.　　It was enough for her to clear her name and retain her title, as much as she no longer wished to be associated with this poor excuse of a family.　　Adam was her priority for now, and the Dark Moon Pack was her home for as long as she remained with Adam.　　As the recording ended and the holographic display disappeared, Leopold was stood frozen with an expression of shock as he mouthed soundlessly words that he clearly wanted to say, but couldn't force out.　　Narcissa didn't bother to raise her head to glare at the elders, instead, in the final few minutes of the recording, she had come to the realizati

　　As soon as the Royal Court of Elders had released them into the hands of their specially trained guards, they were escorted back to the palace in an unmarked car with blacked-out windows and no trace of the usual pomp and ceremony that followed them everywhere.　　They sat in silence as they headed towards the palace, the guards watching them like hawks with impassive expressions on their faces.　　The trial had been a disaster for all of them, especially Leopold.　　This latest installment in the saga of events that revolved around Ada's obsession with trying to destroy Ann had exposed the long-standing defects and flaws that Narcissa had spent so long cultivating in Leopold's character.　　The time and energy it had taken to chip away at his sense of righteousness, the seduction and whispered persuasion that it had taken to twist his mind with her poisonous words, and the sacrifices of flesh that she had been forced to make over the years to bind his heart to hers, ensnaring his wolf i

　　She bit the inside of her cheek painfully to stop herself from crying out and her heart beat rapidly in her chest as her mother yanked her head back to stare at her terrified features with a twisted excitement.　　"Your idea intrigues me," Narcissa purred as she removed the blade from Ada's neck and stroked her daughter's hair with the blood-coated blade of the knife.　　Ada trembled fiercely under her mother's psychotic embrace, not daring to make a sound in case it provoked her wrath once more.　　Narcissa chuckled softly as she planted a kiss on Ada's forehead roughly and licked the blade free of any remaining blood, smiling wickedly down at her daughter's terrified face.　　"Tell me everything, my little lamb, and we shall see whether or not I sacrifice your blood and the life of your unborn child tonight, or whether your plan offers you yet another chance to redeem yourself."　　Ann sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the phone in her hand for a long time, willing herself to stop