#Chapter 42 – Something Real

Damon I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I was. Standing in the upper gallery with the judges, I’d expected Elena Ashford to falter. Not because I wanted her to, I didn’t, but because she kept walking into things no one else dared to touch and somehow emerged unscathed. Sooner or later, the illusion would crack. And yet here she was. Again. Surprising me. While the other candidates played into their roles—leaning on brute force or what they thought counted as charm—Elena offered something unorthodox. A third option that required vision and risk. She proposed a solution that looked like surrender on the surface but demanded cooperation on a level Packs hadn’t exercised in generations. No tutor could’ve taught her that. I leaned forward as she walked out of the chamber, chin high, shoulders tight. Nora peeled off to the right without a word. But Elena kept walking like she couldn’t afford to look behind her. Like she knew she’d done something dangerous by not playing the ga