The Lunar Council members came right on time. Flanked by white robed members the Shaman looked ominous in his black robes. When Dawn walked to where they were sitting, the Shaman stared at her from under his thick white eyebrows until she greeted him and sat down. Daryn sat right beside her whereas Gayle sat on a lone sofa opposite the Shaman.

Moments later Caleb joined them, looking extremely tired and pensive. He hadn't shaved and his black stubble over his pale face stood starkly. There were dark circles under his eyes. He looked mentally and physically… exhausted.

​​

Daryn's heart reached to his brother, while Dawn lowered her eyes and bunched her white dress in her lap.

"Where's Sedora?" Gayle asked a servant who arrived with fresh pomegranate juice for the members.

"Sir, she is not in her room. She had left this letter for you. The butler informed me that he saw her leaving bag and baggage in the wee hours of the morning," the servant said, handing him the letter.

Gayle took the letter from him, opened and read its contents.

[I am leaving. I was pretty appalled the way you treated Pia. She is a pureblood princess and wife of our elder son. What do you expect from a woman who is only fighting rightfully for her position? She didn't get it fairly, so she used unfair means to grab what rightly belongs to her. It is not justified to ban her from the clan. I am against it and I am leaving only to show my displeasure. If you want me back in the house, you will not ban her from the clan. Dawn is a neotide, she carries unnatural pregnancy. The person who should be banned is Dawn and not Pia. Trust me this is going to take a bad shape if you choose Dawn over Pia. Goodbye.]

Gayle was as poker-faced as ever when he folded the paper and kept it in his pockets. "Sedora won't be joining us because she had an urgent business trip to make," he said.

"Where is Pia?" asked the Shaman. "She is the person against whom we have to make the decision. Won't she be arguing her case?" He looked at Caleb.

Caleb shrugged with an I-don't-care attitude.

"Shall we wait for her?" asked another council member.

"You can wait all you want," said Caleb. "She is not at home."

"Then where is she?" asked the member.

"I have no idea. After last night I left her at the hospital, I haven't seen her."

"Let me call her," Gayle offered because he didn't want the Lunar Council members to feel insulted. Banishing a wolf from the tribe was a big thing, which was taken very seriously. He picked up his phone and dialed her number, but her phone was switched off. He looked at the Shaman with his brows drawn together. "What do we do in this case? Pia is unavailable."

"Didn't she know that we were coming?" he asked.

"She did."

The Shaman stroked his long beard and said, "Hmm… in that we will continue with the meeting. It's her fault and her loss if she is not present at the meeting." He looked at Dawn and said, "So your charges are that she faked her pregnancy in order to put you in a spot. She blamed you for her miscarriage when you weren't even on talking terms with her."

"Yes," replied Dawn.

"And now as the Luna of the Daryn Silver, who is the Prince of the Lykae, you want to move a petition to ban Pia Silver from the clan?"

"Yes."

"You should know that casting a member out of the clan is serious punishment, which can't be revoked. Once a wolf is thrown out, he or she can never return. A lone wolf usually doesn't survive the wild. So you should know that if you are going to move against her to this extent, she will suffer a lot," said the Shaman. He wanted to make her feel guilty of her decision. After all Pia was a pureblooded werewolf and a royal. This decision was going to be first of its kind, not because they would be banishing a werewolf, but because they would be banishing a royal. This had happened once long back, almost five hundred years back.

"I understand the repercussions," said Dawn firmly.

The Shaman shook on the inside after hearing her speak so harshly. She almost looked adamant. "Okay, then present your case."

Dawn started right from the beginning when she had entered the Silver Mansion. How Pia manipulated every step of her life, how even after she came from Ulfric, she made her life a living hell, and then until what she did a day back. All the incidents were narrated one by one, and as the episodes of her connivance, her brutality and her selfishness peeled like layers of onions, Caleb and Daryn were left shuddering on the inside. Caleb felt ashamed of what all his wife did and even more ashamed of the fact that he was with her in her dirty tricks. He sighed and looked away. He couldn't fathom as to what all Dawn had undergone during her stay at the Silver Mansion. She was constantly targeted by Pia. He lowered his head. There was no going back.

The Shaman listened to her with patience. None of the council members had any reason to side with Pia. However, one of them still asked Caleb, "Would you like to say anything in Pia's defense?"

"Not now."

"Okay," the member nodded. He guessed as much that he wasn't interested in supporting his wife.

The Shaman looked at other members. The way they saw each other, it was as if they were discussing things through their mental links. There was pin drop silence in the room. Ten minutes passed but none of them spoke. Dawn grew impatient. She thought of speaking something then closed her mouth. She had given them enough evidence against Pia and had presented it very logically.

Fifteen minutes passed and Caleb grew impatient. He fidgeted and shifted in his seat.

Daryn and Gayle were the only ones who waited patiently.

Finally after half-an-hour, the Head spoke. "We find that Pia Silver had indeed done something truly offensive against Dawn Silver, who is the Luna of the Silver Clan. The Lunar Council is hereby in concurrence over the decision of banishing Pia Silver from the clan and from the whole tribe as such." He became quiet and glared at Dawn.

"However, if she wants she can appeal to us anytime," added a member.

Dawn frowned. "You just said that the decision is irreversible. Then how can she appeal?" she asked.

"Well, she is a royal."

"No, the laws have to be the same for all the members of the clan. I will never accept her back in the tribe," Dawn said so harshly that the members were stunned.

He glowered at her, but he couldn't counter her.

The Shaman said, "She is right. Laws are the same for all."

Dawn closed her eyes. Victory at last. Pia was gone. Heaviness lifted off her chest. She felt she could breathe. Silver Mansion was so toxic up until now. And with the announcement, the air cleared up. She didn't know why, but her eyes prickled. Was she crying? Daryn squeezed her hand.

Suddenly Caleb said, "I would like to unmark Pia before she leaves the clan."

The Lunar Council members were shocked.