With Jeanne and Gianna's fate settled, the Council turned, at last, to the matter that had drawn the wider bloodlines to the Hall of Ash in numbers Jasmine hadn't seen since her own exile trial. Word of the coming coronation session had spread far beyond the usual Council circles, drawing envoys and curious observers from territories that had never once bothered to send representatives to her earlier hearings.

"The coronation of a Luna," Voss announced to the assembled chamber, "independent of a formally bonded Alpha's endorsement, has no precedent in this Council's recorded history. We proceed, therefore, cautiously, and with conditions no previous Luna has ever been asked to meet."...