Dawn closed her eyes and started praying to every God that she could think of. Her nervousness increased by every passing second. Daryn could understand her emotions and he knew that if things went awry, he was ready to scoop her in his arms and run away from this place. He would hide her for the rest of their lives. To hell with the title of being the King of Lykae. Without his soul mate, he was nothing.

Caleb was wishing that things turned in his favor. He had eyed his brother's position for a long time only because he was the elder one. Although he had been a strong contender for the position, Caleb was never out of the race. It was only with Dawn's presence in their lives that the things turned around – Daryn's luck turned for better. He couldn't believe that day when Daryn and Dawn came back safe and alive from Ulfric. How could things go wrong so much? This was his chance. Everything was in place. He held his breath and waited for the Shaman to unfold the paper that had the final vote.

The Shaman unfolded it. With steel grey eyes that mirrored his expression, he stroked his white beard and then placed the paper on the table.

It was a check mark.

"What?" Pia shot up to her feet. "H— how can this be?" she stammered.

Dawn stared at the white paper that had a large and bold check mark. She pressed her hand to her mouth and as if she couldn't any more, she let her tears run out. Suddenly she got up from her place and ran inside to the toilet. The emotions were too much for her to hold. She puked and puked until her stomach retched, her chest heaved. Daryn's long fingers stroked her back gently. Both of them were too happy and both knew that at this time even Daryn could try. Dawn washed her face and turned to look at Daryn. She cupped his face with her hands and with a fresh barrage of tears that flooded her eyes, she said, "The baby stays…"

Daryn couldn't hold his tears either. He embraced her and buried his face in the crook of her neck. He nodded and couldn't speak a word. They choked in his throat. His wife stayed and so did his baby. He was thankful to Skadi. Perhaps she listened to their prayers, perhaps the council members wanted them to go ahead with the pregnancy and perhaps nature didn't want them to do away with their baby. They patted each other's back and then giggled like small children.

"Let's go and face them now!" said Dawn with renewed zest.

When they came out, they saw that Quetz wasn't there. Gayle looked buoyant and Caleb was crestfallen. His face scrunched and it appeared smaller. He was staring at the papers and then the council members. He was so confused that his mind had fuddled grossly. He couldn't believe that the three council members were in favor of Dawn.

As for The Lunar Council members – they still wore their trademark stoic expressions, which didn't give away any of their thoughts.

"This is against the laws we have laid for the purebloods!" Pia said with exasperation in her voice. "This is partiality," she accused the members.

"Woman!" the Shaman barked. "You dare accuse the council of partiality? You dare accuse us of not acting with wisdom?"

The two members who had voted against Dawn flinched and they remained as impassive as possible. It was simply incredulous to believe that the council went with Dawn.

Pia blanched as she recoiled. Just a few minutes back everything was so rosy. She was thinking of beautiful possibilities of attaining the most coveted position of the clan and now everything slipped from her hand like sand. "I— I am merely saying— that this decision should be revoke—."

A vicious, eerie snarl cut her off. "Keep quiet!" his words were near guttural. Daryn walked and stood near his father. "Are you speaking against your Luna now?" He had to show Pia her place.

"Are you out of your mind?" Pia snapped. "She is no one's Luna!" she spat. Suddenly a slap across her face made her jump. She pressed her hand to her cheek that was now burning with pain and looked back at the person who dared to slap her with wide eyes, her claws started to come out.

Gayle was towering her. "Enough of it. Now go and sit down before I forget that you are Caleb's wife."

Pia cowered. She didn't imagine that Gayle would slap her. Her gaze flitted to Caleb who was watching his father with horror. He understood the repercussions of this chaos. He knew that once the council members left, what would Gayle do. He wished that his mother were there to protect him.

"Your father just slapped me and you are sitting there, you moron, you hypocrite!" Pia said in a shaky voice. Her whole body was trembling. When she woke up in the morning after finalizing the plan, she knew that the day was full of promises. There was freshness and new things were about to come. She literally sang through the day while plotting against Daryn and Dawn. She knew that Dawn would go down the drains, but after council's votes, it was her day that looked like a cold cup of coffee that was waiting to be drained away. Disappointment was a small word. She was devastated. How come every time she made such a perfect plan, which eventually got sabotaged? The council decision was the most unlikely thing that had happened. The neotide was indeed lucky. She looked at Dawn who was simply glaring at her with her green eyes.

The Lunar Council members got up from there. "We have to leave now, Gayle," said the Shaman. Then he addressed Pia in an ice-cold voice, which sent shivers down her spine, "Now that this pregnancy is going to happen, you better be with your Luna. If Dawn wants, in fact if she likes, she can sentence you to imprisonment now and we will personally take you to the dungeons." The Shaman looked at Dawn whose lips had curled up.

Dawn didn't know what happened and she didn't want to know. She wanted to revel in her victory for now. She shook her head slightly and whispered, "No…"

The Shaman shrugged and said, "You are the undisputed Luna of the Silver Clan now and the queen of the king of Lykae. You can take those decisions if you like, but be wise."

"Yes," she said with a bow.

Pia became absolutely quiet, no bereft, no… tongue-tied.

The Shaman looked at Gayle and said, "We take our leave now." Gayle escorted them out of the mansion without delay.

Daryn held the hand of his wife proudly and left with his mate, victory written all over his face. He so wanted to show his middle finger to Pia, but he refrained.

---

What they didn't know was that the Shaman was offered an unlimited entry to Ulfric for rituals at the main Skadi temple. With this he had become the most powerful Shaman the purebloods had ever seen. He was desperate to meet his cousin brother in the Derize Barrens. And the only way to do that was to surrender to the whims of Brantley, even if that meant circumventing the Lykae rules. It was — politics.