<h4>Chapter 630: Four Centuries Ago (III)</h4>


    <strong>Evaline:</strong>


    My attention shifted to Kieran as he leaned forward slightly his chair. His voice was quieter than usual, but sharp and focused as he spoke.


    "When you helped us set the wards around Silver Moon years ago... you warned me." He paused for a moment before continuing, "You told me to be careful about whaty beneath."


    He tilted his head slightly. "I’m wondering... if you warned me because you already knew about the sealed soul?"


    For a few seconds after Kieran asked the question, Morwen didn’t respond.


    She simply looked at him.


    The firelight flickered across her face, highlighting the deep lines etched around her eyes - the kind that didn’te from age alone but from years of carrying burdens too heavy to share.


    Then slowly... she nodded.


    "Yes," she said quietly.


    The single word settled over the pavilion like falling ash.


    Kieran didn’t react immediately. But I felt the tension spike through the bond between us.


    Morwen lowered her gaze briefly before continuing. "When I realized you have built the academy right where our coven once used to live, I immediately knew whaty beneath."


    Her fingers tightened together in herp and her voice dropped slightly. "I remember the moment I realized it. I felt... lost, terrified."


    The other witches exchanged uneasy looks.


    Morwen sighed.


    "Four centuries had passed. The seal had held for generations. Even our ancestors had begun to believe the danger was gone."


    Her gaze lifted toward Kieran.


    "But building something asrge and magically active as Silver Moon Academy above that site..."


    She shook her head faintly.


    "It felt like tempting fate."


    Kieran’s jaw tightened.


    "So you warned me."


    "Yes."


    She nodded again. "But I couldn’t tell you the truth." Her eyes were filled with quiet regret. "If I had revealed the reason, the entire secret would havee out. And once that happened..."


    She didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t need to.


    "So I did the only thing I could," she said, "I warned you subtly." Her gaze softened slightly. "I hoped you might listen."


    Kieran huffed quietly under his breath, but didn’t speak.


    Morwen’s shoulders lowered slightly as she continued, "Doing so allowed me to release at least a small portion of the guilt I carried."


    The words hung heavily between us.


    Then Morwen shifted slightly in her seat, her attention fixed fully to Kieran.


    "I owe you an apology."


    Kieran frowned faintly, clearly not expecting that.


    Morwen bowed her head.


    "For hiding the truth."


    Her voice was steady, but the weight behind it was unmistakable.


    "For allowing innocent lives to be ced at risk."


    My chest tightened slightly.


    "For refusing to help when you came to us."


    Her gaze flickered briefly toward me.


    "And most of all..."


    She inhaled slowly.


    "For the mistake of our ancestors... and for the cowardice that followed it."


    No one spoke.


    Not even Tamsin.


    The young witch who had been so quick to defend her coven earlier now looked shaken. Because this wasn’t spection anymore.


    This was truth.


    Morwen straightened slowly and turned toward River. And the shift in her expression was impossible to miss. Gone was theposed elder. Gone was the quiet authority she carried earlier. What remained was something far more vulnerable. Something desperate.


    "Alpha River."


    Her voice carried a quiet plea now.


    "We will help you."


    River remained still, his deep green eyes watching her carefully.


    Morwen continued. "We will try our best to capture the soul again... and then we will seal it again."


    The fire crackled softly.


    "But..." she chose her next words carefully, ".... there is something I must ask in return."


    I already knew what she was going to say. I could feel iting.


    Her voice grew quieter as she voiced her request - "Please do not tell your council the truth about the soul deaths and that Great Evil."


    The words fell heavily into the silence.


    "My coven has lived with this secret for centuries," she continued softly. "Not because we are proud of it... but because the consequences would destroy us."


    Her eyes flickered briefly toward the younger witches sitting behind her.


    "These witches had nothing to do with the sins of our ancestors." Her voice trembled slightly for the first time. "But the council would not care about that distinction."


    She looked back at River.


    "If the truthes out..." She swallowed, "They will punish us all."


    The desperation in her voice was clear now.


    "I am willing to help you stop that soul. I am willing to help you save the wolves it threatens." Her gaze hardened slightly with resolve. "And in return, I beg you..."


    Her hands tightened together.


    "Protect my coven from the council."


    Silence swallowed the pavilion as every eye turned to River.


    For the first time since Morwen began speaking, I realized just how heavy this decision would be.


    Because she wasn’t wrong.


    If the council learned the truth... things would get ugly for the witches. Very ugly.


    My gaze shifted to River’s face.


    His expression remained unreadable, calm, controlled. But I knew him well enough to not recognize the storm beneath that calm.


    And honestly... I didn’t know what he would decide.


    Part of me burned with anger.


    Because this entire nightmare existed because of the witches. It was their greed, their arrogance, their decision to experiment with something sacred.


    One divine healer from my bloodline had died because of them.


    Hundreds of innocent wolves had suffered soul deaths over the centuries.


    Families were ruined.


    And while all of that was happening... the witches had simply hidden away in their mountains - untouched, unpunished, and safe from being held ountable.


    That thought made my chest tighten.


    But another part of me couldn’t ignore something else.


    The witches sitting here tonight weren’t the ones whomitted that crime. They weren’t the ones who altered the ritual. They weren’t the ones who separated the healer’s soul or wanted to control his power.


    Those witches had been dead for centuries.


    The coven in front of us had simply inherited the consequences.


    And if the council discovered the truth now... they wouldn’t care about that difference.


    The council rarely did.


    Justice and vengeance often blurred together in their decisions.


    The witches would be punished. Maybe worse.


    Not because theymitted the crime... but because they belonged to the bloodline that had.


    And I knew River understood that.


    Probably better than I did.


    He had grown up within the politics of the werewolf world. He knew exactly how brutal the council could be when they wanted to make an example out of someone.


    He finally shifted slightly in his chair.


    The movement was small, but every pair of eyes followed it.


    Morwen’s hands tightened nervously. The other elder looked tense. And the witches exchanged uncertain nces.


    And I...


    I waited.


    Because whatever River decided next...


    Would change everything.