Novels by Chisom

[Eileens Sicht]Ich habe nicht geschlafen. Ich habe es nicht versucht.Die Kerze auf meinem Nachttisch brannte zu fast nichts, während ich dort saß und jedes Wort abspielte, das Alaric in seinem Arbeitszimmer gesagt hatte, bis sie aufhörten, wie Sätze zu klingen und einfach zu Lärm wurden.Stattdessen saß ich auf der Kante meines Bettes, bis die Kerzen niedrig brannten, und durchlief alles, was Alaric mir gesagt hatte, bis sich ein Detail wieder wie ein Faden an einem Nagel verhing.Ihre Handschrift. Unverkennbar, hatte er gesagt. Genau passend.Niemandes Handschrift war jemals genau etwas, es sei denn, jemand hatte sie zuerst geübt. Ich dachte an jedes Hauptbuch, bei dem ich meinem Vater als Mädchen geholfen hatte, es zu sortieren, die Art und Weise, wie selbst der vorsichtigste Fälscher ein kleines Sagen hinterlassen hat, ob man wusste, wonach man suchte. Ein Schlaganfall zu sogar. Eine zu überlegte Neigung. Handschrift, die genau richtig aussah, war normalerweise das erste Zeichen

KAPITEL 13: Gestohlene Dokumente[Alarics Sicht]Das Siegel auf der westlichen Korrespondenz war Stunden, bevor es jemand bemerkte, gebrochen worden. Als ich im Archivraum stand und auf das leere Regal starrte, in dem drei versiegelte Sendungen hätten sein sollen, hatte derjenige, der sie mitnahm, bereits einen halben Tag Vorsprung gehabt."Nur drei Leute haben die Schlüssel zu diesem Zimmer", sagte mein Steward und sah mir nicht ganz in die Augen. "Ich selbst. Du. Und wem auch immer der Haushalt der Luna Zugang zur Einreichung gewährt.“"Sag es.""Lumi hat diese Woche zweimal hier Korrespondenz eingereicht, mein Alpha. Beide Male unbeaufsichtigt."Ich wollte es nicht glauben. Das überraschte mich mehr als der Diebstahl selbst, wie schnell mein Verstand einen Grund erreichte, der nicht wahr sein konnte, anstatt einfach auf das zu schauen, was vor mir lag.„Finde sie“, sagte ich trotzdem. "Leise."Sie fanden sie innerhalb einer Stunde, im Garten hinter dem Ostflügel, genau dort, wo die

[Eileens Sicht]Ich hatte nichts dazu zu sagen. Nicht sofort.Also saß ich einfach neben ihr und beobachtete, wie sich die Vögel wieder an der Wand niederließen, als hätte sich überhaupt nichts zwischen uns verschoben, obwohl sich eindeutig etwas bewegt hatte."Ich meine es auch ernst", sagte ich schließlich. "Falls das nicht klar war."Lumi schaute auf ihre Reparatur hinunter, aber ich fing die Kurve ihres Mundwinkels, klein und echt."Es war klar genug."Ich wollte etwas anderes sagen, etwas, das den Moment so groß fühlen lassen würde, wie er tatsächlich war, aber jedes Wort, das mir in den Sinn kam, fühlte sich zu klein an für das, was sie mir gerade gegeben hatte. Also blieb ich stattdessen einfach eine Weile länger dort, Nadel und Faden zwischen uns, Vögel kamen einer nach dem anderen zum abgeplatzten Becher zurück, als wären sie nur jemals erschrocken worden, nie wirklich weg.Nach diesem ersten Nachmittag fand ich Gründe, den Garten mehr zu besuchen, als ich es wahrscheinlich h

[Eileens Sicht]Der Heiler umschlang meinen Arm zweimal so viel wie nötig, als ob zusätzliche Leinenschichten irgendwie das rückgängig machen könnten, was die Hälfte des Palastes bereits gesehen hatte."Das Gift ist aus deinem Blut", sagte sie und traf meine Augen nicht ganz. "Du hattest Glück.""War ich."Das hat sie nicht beantwortet. Sie beendete gerade den Verband, verbeugte sich zu schnell und ging ohne ein weiteres Wort.Das ist mir heute oft aufgefallen. Die Leute beenden die Dinge schnell. Die Leute treffen nicht ganz auf meine Augen.Wren kam nicht lange danach herein, trug ein frisches Kleid über einem Arm, ihr Gesichtsausdruck war sorgfältig in etwas Normales arrangiert.Es hat nicht ganz gehalten.„Wie geht es allen“, fragte ich, bevor sie etwas anderes vortäuschen konnte."Gut." Eine Pause. "Reden. Aber gut.""Worüber reden?"Sie beschäftigte sich mit dem Kleid, anstatt sofort zu antworten."Wren."„Über das Licht“, sagte sie schließlich. "Über das, was du sein könntest.

[Eileens Sicht]Für einen Herzschlag bewegte sich niemand. Nicht die Wachen. Nicht mein Vater. Ich nicht.Dann bewegte er sich, bevor jemand im Hof fertig war, um zu verarbeiten, was er gerade gesagt hatte. Irgendwo hinter mir schrie eine Frau, das Geräusch wurde fast augenblicklich von Wachen geschluckt, die sich gegenseitig Befehle anriefen, Stiefel kratzten Stein, als die Hälfte des Hofes verstreut war und die andere Hälfte nach vorne schoss.In einer Sekunde stand er hinter den Eisenstangen mit diesem gefalteten Pergament in der Hand. Beim nächsten war das Pergament weg und etwas Langes und Dünnes blitzte Silber im Sonnenlicht auf und wölbte sich bereits in Richtung der Lücke, wo das Tor nicht vollständig verriegelt war.Ich hatte keine Zeit, Angst zu haben. Mein Körper bewegte sich von selbst, drehte sich seitwärts, und etwas hat mich trotzdem immer noch erwischt. Eine Wärmelinie öffnete sich über meinen Oberarm, dünn wie ein Papierschnitt. Für einen seltsamen Herzschlag tat es n

[Eileens Sicht]Fünf Tage.Ich hatte die Worte seit dem Morgen so oft zu mir selbst gesagt, dass sie nicht mehr wie irgendwas klangen. Fünf Tage, um eine Schuld zu finden, die ich nicht nennen konnte, die ich jemandem schuldete, den ich noch nie getroffen hatte, für eine Sünde, von der ich nicht einmal sicher war, ob ich sie in diesem Körper oder der letzten begangen hatte.Ich hatte nicht geschlafen. Ich hatte nicht gegessen. Ich saß gerade am Fenster und drehte Madam Ferras Warnung immer wieder um, bis die Worte ihre Form vollständig verloren.Wren war immer noch mit den Vorhängen beschäftigt, als die Ankündigung kam. Mein Vater stand am Tor und bat um ein Publikum, allein, ohne Begleitung aus dem Westrudel.„Schieden Sie ihn rein“, sagte ich, bevor sie den Satz überhaupt beendet hatte.Wren zögerte in der Tür. „Soll ich bleiben, meine Luna?“"Nein. Schließe die Tür hinter dir.“Sie fragte nicht warum. Sie ging einfach, und zum ersten Mal seit der Hochzeit war ich dankbar, dass jema

[Eileen's POV]Alaric found me sitting on the low wall at the edge of the garden, looking out over the open fields, and he didn't ask why I'd sent for him three times before he finally got free."Roth said you'd been asking all morning.""I have. You’re a hard man to pin down when there’s still a kingdom to put back together.”"It's mostly put back together now, if that helps." He sat beside me, close enough that our shoulders touched. "What did you need?""I've been trying to figure that out since breakfast." I looked out at the fields instead of at him, easier that way. "Lucian's dead. Alice is dead. Selena's dead. Elena's in a cell answering for the rest of it. Everyone who hurt me, in this life or the one before it, is finally gone or accounted for.""I know.""I thought I'd feel finished. Wren warned me it wouldn't feel like anything right away, and she was right, but I assumed eventually it would settle into something. Relief, maybe. Peace." I pressed my palm flat against my sto

[Alaric's POV]"My lord." Roth reached us before I'd finished helping Kade unload the saddlebags, and whatever was in his hands looked important enough that he hadn't bothered smoothing his expression on the walk over. "Forgive the timing. This couldn't wait for morning.""Nothing ever can, with you, not even on a night like this one." I kept half my attention on Eileen, watching her lean into Lumi's shoulder, laughing at something for the first genuine time since we'd ridden home. "What is it.""West Pack territory. There's no clear heir. Lucian's council's already splitting into three factions arguing over who takes the seat, and two of them have started arming their own men against each other inside the walls.""So it fractures into exactly the kind of chaos that put a knife in my brother's back three years ago, if we let it.""That's my read as well, my lord.""How bad.""Bad enough that our scouts counted skirmishes in two separate districts before we'd even finished burying our

[Kade's POV]The safehold gate came into view around the last bend, and I nearly fell off my own horse getting down before it had properly stopped."Kade!" Hollis was already swinging the gate open, grinning wide enough to split his face. "We heard three different rumors about the battle before your rider finally got here. Half of them had you dead twice over.""Exaggerated, clearly.""Clearly." He clapped my shoulder, hard. "She's inside. I haven't slept right in days, waiting for word ."I didn't wait to hear the rest. I crossed the yard at a run, and the kitchen door banged open before I reached it, and then Lumi was there, flour dusted across one cheek exactly the way it had been the last time I left her standing in this yard."You're alive." She said it like she needed to hear herself say it before she'd believe her own eyes. "You're actually alive, you absolute fool, you said three weeks and it's been almost a month.""I said I'd send a word. I did.""Words aren't the same as

[Eileen's POV]I woke up screaming on the third night, and it took Alaric almost a full minute to convince me the sword wasn't real."Eileen. Eileen, look at me. Nobody's here. You're safe, you're in bed, it's over.""I felt it go into him." My hands were still shaking, fisted in the blanket like I could hold myself together with fabric alone. "Not Lucian. Selena. I had her wrist and I felt her pull away, and in the dream it was my hand that let her fall, not hers that pulled free.""That's not what happened.""I know that. I know it when I'm awake." I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes until colors bloomed behind them. "It doesn't seem to matter what I know once I'm asleep."He didn't tell me it would pass. He'd learned that much about me over the last three days, that promises about the future did nothing for the version of me sitting in the wreckage of the present. He just pulled me against his chest instead and let me listen to his heartbeat until mine slowed down to ma

[Alaric's POV]Wren found me in the hallway outside the healer's room. I’d been pacing outside her door for several minutes."She's fine," she said, cutting off the question I hadn't finished asking. "Exhaustion, nothing more. The baby's heartbeat is strong. She needs sleep, food, and about a month of somebody telling her no when she tries to get up too early.""I can manage that last part.""I imagine you can." Wren almost smiled. "Go. She's asleep, and she'll stay that way for hours. There's nothing here that needs you standing in a hallway wearing a hole in the floor."So two days later, with Eileen finally eating solid meals again and Kade refusing to leave her side for longer than it took me to walk the length of the North Pack court, I went to deal with Elena instead.She sat across the table from me in the small stone room we used for matters nobody wanted overheard, hands folded, spine straight, the picture of a woman who had nothing at all to answer for."My lord. I've been a

[Eileen's POV]I didn't hear her hit the ground. The wind took whatever sound there might have been, and then there was nothing where she’d been standing a second ago."Eileen." Alaric's arm locked around my waist and pulled me back from the edge before my knees understood they should be doing that themselves. "Don't look down. Look at me.""I had her wrist," I said. "I had it, and I let go, and I don't even remember deciding to.""You didn't let go. She pulled free. There's a difference, and you need to let yourself believe it.""Does it matter, in the end?""It matters to me." He turned my face up to his, thumb brushing along my jaw, careful as he checked my face. "You tried to save a woman who tried to kill you an hour ago. That's not a thing to carry guilt over."Kade came up beside us, breathing hard from the climb, and looked once over the edge before deciding against a second look. "Somebody should go down and...""In the morning," Alaric said. "Nobody's climbing that in the da

Celeste’s pov I read the text three times before my hands stopped shaking enough to put the phone down. Enjoy tonight. It’s the last peaceful one you’ll get before everyone in that house finds out exactly who you really are.I didn’t sleep. By the time morning light crept through my window, I’d convinced myself the board session would be the least of my problems.I found Gregory in the hallway outside the dining room, dressed sharp for the meeting, his face already carrying the exhaustion of a man who hadn’t slept either, he looked up when I approached, and something in his expression made my stomach drop before he even spoke.“Gregory.”“Celeste.” He said my name flat, distant, nothing like the way he’d whispered it against my lips hours earlier. “I need to talk to you.”“Okay.”“About last night.” He glanced down the hallway, checking for anyone listening, then lowered his voice further. “It shouldn’t have happened.”The warmth from the night before drained out of my chest all at o

Celeste’s pov “Helena Whitman,” I repeated, staring at the name on the page. “Any relation to Dr. Whitman?” “I don’t know yet.” Gregory’s hands were still shaking. “But it can’t be a coincidence. My mother’s maiden name matches the doctor who’s been running that clinic for thirty years.” “Family,” I said slowly. “Maybe a brother, cousin.” “Which would explain why he’s been so loyal to her for decades.” Gregory closed the folder, pressing his palm flat against it like he could keep the contents contained through sheer will. “I need to know how deep this goes before Thursday.” “I might be able to help with that.” He looked at me sharply. “How?” “I have a contact who’s been investigating the clinic independently, someone with access I don’t have.” I chose my words carefully, protecting Robert’s name until I knew how much I could trust Gregory with. “Let me talk to them first, bring you something concrete instead of more questions.” “Celeste.” He caught my wrist gently. “W

Celeste’s pov Helena’s face went through several emotions at once, shock, fury, and something colder underneath both. “Where did you get access to my personal accounts?” “That’s not the point, Mother.” Gregory’s voice shook with barely contained anger, why were you paying Dr. Whitman three years before I married Amelia?” “You’ve been going through my private records?” “Answer the question.” Helena’s jaw tightened, her composure cracking at the edges for the first time since I’d known her. “It was a donation. To the clinic’s research fund, nothing more.” “A donation.” Gregory’s voice went flat with disbelief. “To a fertility clinic, Three years before your future daughter-in-law ever needed one.” “I don’t have to explain every financial decision I’ve made over the past decade.” “You do when it looks like you were setting something up before Amelia even entered this family.” He stepped closer, phone still raised. “What did you do, Mother?” “I protected this family,”

Celeste’s pov The lighthouse stood dark against the evening sky, waves crashing against rocks below in a rhythm that made my chest tighten with memory. I parked and walked the path toward the old stone tower, the wind pulling at my hair, and found Gregory already waiting near the base, jacket collar turned up. “You came,” he said. “You said it was important.” “It is.” He studied me for a long moment, something unreadable behind his eyes. “I keep trying to figure out what it is about you that feels this familiar, and every answer I come up with sounds insane.” “Try me.” “Sometimes you move the way she used to move.” His voice dropped, rough. “My wife. Amelia. She used to press her hand flat against her stomach when she was nervous, exactly like you do.” My hand had been resting there without my noticing. I dropped it fast. “That’s probably just a coincidence.” “Probably.” He didn’t sound convinced. “I brought you here to tell you something. About the night she died.”

We ran.The grandfather moved faster than his cane should have allowed, and I kept pace beside him, my heart hammering from the garden conversation and now this, the staff member led us through the side entrance into the main hall, where a small crowd had already gathered outside Helena’s study.“What happened?” the grandfather demanded.“She collapsed, sir. One of the maids found her on the floor.”I pushed through the doorway before I could think better of it Helena lay on the chaise near her desk, pale, one hand pressed to her chest, Gregory already kneeling beside her, his face tight with something I hadn’t seen on him before, fear.“Mother, can you hear me?”“I’m fine,” Helena rasped, though her voice shook. “Stop hovering.”“You collapsed.”“I got dizzy.” She tried to sit up, and Gregory’s hand pressed gently against her shoulder, holding her still.“Someone call the doctor,” he snapped, not looking away from her.“Already on the way,” a staff member answered from the doorway.

Celeste’s pov The garden behind the east wing sat quiet in the fading light, and I found him there exactly where the text said he’d be, an old man on a stone bench, a cane resting against his knee.“You came,” he said without looking up.“Your message was hard to ignore.”“Sit.” He patted the space beside him.I hesitated, then sat, the cool stone seeping through my dress. For a long moment, neither of us spoke, the garden settling into the kind of silence that only old houses seemed to hold onto.“You’ve caused quite a stir in this house,” he said finally, still watching the sky instead of me. “Two days, and already my grandson can’t stop finding reasons to be near you.”“I don’t know what you mean.”“You know exactly what I mean.” He turned, and his eyes, sharp despite his age, studied my face with an intensity that made my skin crawl. “I’ve lived in this family for seventy years, Celeste. I know what it looks like when a Vale man starts falling for the wrong woman. I watched it ha