Chapter 13 — The Judgment of the Moon
"On the matter of Sierra, once called Bennett, now Thorne," the eldest elder read, and his old voice shook across the silent gathering ground, "on the charge of the murder of Alpha Edmund Sinclair, weighed beneath the moon by stone, by witness, by letter, and by ink — the judgment of Ironridge is innocent. Wholly. On every count. For all time."
Three hundred wolves heard it in absolute silence.
Then the eldest elder closed the paper, looked out at the pack he had helped mislead five years ago, and did something no ritual required. He knelt. Stiff-jointed, unsteady, one hand on the oath-stone for balance — down onto the boards of the dais, head bowed.
Behind him, like a wave falling, Ironridge followed.
Row after row, the pack that had chanted trai
