Chapter 27: Council

Lilia POV

The council chamber looked as grand as anything she could imagine in a royal palace or a major city. These shifters surprised her yet again. She had to crane her neck to see the golden dome in the ceiling. Someone had carved the stone walls with reliefs of shifters in decisive or thoughtful poses. Images of great Alphas of the Evenhide Pack adorned the floor tiles.

Because shifters insisted on touches of nature inside their buildings, the beams above had golden hanging plants sprouting from them and cascading down like tassels. High windows in the wall above the council dais allowed in strong sunlight that let nothing hide.

When she was a child, she’d listened to Ravyn’s stories about shifters, and frighten herself with images of crafty, silent shifters skulking in dim halls and dark castles and the depths of night. The chamber smelled musty and old and full of wolf musk, but it didn’t scare Lilia. Their reason for being in this chamber did.