Chapter: Chapter sixty As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm orange glow over the kingdom, I felt a shiver run down my spine. The ritual was about to begin, and I was both excited and terrified. Arianna stood beside me, her eyes fixed on the king as he prepared the sacred circle."Kael, are you ready?" the king asked, his voice firm but laced with a hint of concern.I nodded, trying to appear braver than I felt. The power surge earlier had left me drained, but I knew I had to push through. Arianna's hand brushed against mine, a gentle reminder that she was there for me.The king began to chant, his voice rising and falling in a soothing cadence. The air around us seemed to vibrate with energy, and I could feel the power stirring within me. Arianna's eyes met mine, and I saw a spark of encouragement there.As the ritual progressed, the energy built in intensity. I felt myself being lifted out of my body, my spirit merging with the power that coursed through the circle. The king's chanting grew
Last Updated: 2025-04-26
Chapter: chapter fifty nine I stormed out of the castle, the cool night air hitting me like a slap in the face. The darkness seemed to match my mood, and I felt a sense of liberation as I walked away from the oppressive walls. I didn't know where I was going, but I needed to get away from the castle, from Kael, and from the suffocating expectations.As I walked through the quiet streets, I felt a sense of clarity wash over me. I realized that I had been living in a state of denial, pretending that everything was fine when it wasn't. Kael's infidelity was just a symptom of a larger problem - our relationship was a sham, a duty-bound obligation rather than a love match.I thought about my conversation with my father, and the sacrifice that was to come. Was I truly doing it for the kingdom's sake, or was it a desperate attempt to hurt Kael and Arianna? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that my motivations were mixed. But one thing was certain - I would see this through, no matter the cost.As I turne
Last Updated: 2025-04-24
Chapter: Chapter fifty eight Arianna povI stood before the king, my heart heavy with the weight of my decision. I had come to offer myself as the key to Alpha Kael's survival, but also to ensure his departure from our lives. The king's piercing gaze met mine, and I steeled myself for the conversation ahead."Your Majesty," I began, my voice steady. "I've come to tell you that I'm willing to proceed with the ritual. Let's begin the preparations."The king's expression turned calculating, and he nodded thoughtfully. "Very well, Arianna. I'll summon the elder and the necessary materials. But are you certain you're prepared for what's to come?"I nodded resolutely, pushing aside the doubts that threatened to creep in. "I'm ready, Your Majesty. For Alpha Kael's sake, and for mine."The king's gaze lingered on me, and for a moment, I thought I saw a glimmer of curiosity. "Very well, Arianna. We'll begin the preparations immediately. The ritual will take place at sundown."I nodded, feeling a sense of relief wash over
Last Updated: 2025-04-23
Chapter: chapter fifty-seven Kael pov As I leaned against the wall, a weight pressed down on my shoulder, and I swallowed hard against the pain. It felt like a thousand needles were piercing my skin, and something was crawling under my flesh. My heart ached as I tried to rise from the couch, but my legs buckled beneath me. I fell hard onto the floor, the impact jolting through my body. Powers long dormant began to stir within me, like a beast awakening from a deep slumber. I could feel it coursing through my veins, burning like wildfire. My alpha instincts were rising to the surface, and I was powerless to stop it. The room around me began to blur, and I felt like I was being consumed by a force beyond my control. The pain was intense, like my body was being torn apart and put back together again. I gritted my teeth, trying to ride out the wave of agony, but it only seemed to intensify. Sweat dripped from my brow, and my vision began to tunnel. I was losing myself to the power, and I knew I had to fight back.
Last Updated: 2025-04-22
Chapter: Chapter fifty sixElaine’s POV I clenched my fist so hard I felt the sting of my nails biting into my palm. The room was cold—silent—but inside, I was burning. They were doing this in the open now. Flaunting it. Kael, the Alpha—the one I was meant to stand beside—choosing a rogue-blooded stray over me? Over everything we’d built? The alliance. The power. The future. And her—that girl, walking around with his scent, wrapped around her like a trophy, like she belonged here? She didn’t. Arianna didn’t understand what it meant to be part of this pack, this legacy. She wasn’t raised for it. She wasn’t trained. She was chaos wrapped in temptation, with eyes that made even the strongest men forget their purpose. But not me. I didn’t forget. I remembered everything. The years spent preparing. The sacrifices. The smile Kael used to wear when we were younger—carefree, before duty sharpened him into steel. Before she came along and made him soft. And now? Now, the council was slipping through
Last Updated: 2025-04-18
Chapter: chapter fifty five Kael’s POV The rain was still whispering against the windows when I stepped back into my quarters, the scent of her still hanging in the air—wild rain, warm skin, and something else. Something of mine. She was sitting by the fire, wrapped in a blanket, legs tucked beneath her. Her head turned at the sound of the door, and for a moment, the world just... stopped. Arianna. Goddess, I didn’t know how she did it. How she made me feel like the ground beneath my feet was shaking and solid all at once. One look from her could settle my wolf or drive him into a frenzy. The patrol had been dealt with—quick and clean. A couple of rogues testing the borders, nothing serious. But the entire time I’d been out there, all I could think about was her. The fire in her eyes. The vulnerability in her voice. The way she had looked at me before I left, as if handing me a piece of her and daring me not to drop it. I hadn’t. I wouldn’t. “Did you win?” she asked, eyes glinting with tired amusement.
Last Updated: 2025-04-17
Chapter: Thalia POVThe word lead echoed through my skull all night like a curse I wasn’t sure I deserved.The chamber was darker than usual, the torch in the hall burning low. I sat on the cot with the sword balanced across my lap, tracing the scars on the wood with bandaged fingers. My ribs ached every time I breathed too deeply, but it was the silence pressing hardest on me.I whispered the names again. Not to punish myself this time, but to remind myself. To hold them close, even if the weight cut me open.When the door creaked open, I was already on my feet.Not guards this time. Isabella.She didn’t enter—never did. She filled the doorway like iron poured into human form, gaze sharp enough to pierce through the dark.“Today,” she said, “you don’t fight alone.”The words slotted into me like a blade between ribs. My grip tightened on the sword.“I’m not ready,” I rasped before I could stop myself.Her expression didn’t change. “That isn’t my concern.”Then she turned. “Bring them.”---They shoved f
Last Updated: 2025-08-27
Chapter: Thalia POVThe night before the fight stretched long and sharp, a wire pulled taut across my chest.I didn’t sleep. Couldn’t.The cot might as well have been a slab of stone. My ribs ached with every breath, my hands throbbed in time with my heartbeat, and the memory of the wooden sword clattering from my grip replayed over and over until it stopped being memory and became prophecy.Tomorrow, I would fall.The chamber was silent except for the occasional drip of water somewhere in the stone. The sword leaned against the wall within reach. My eyes kept drifting to it. Not because it offered comfort—it didn’t—but because it was proof. Someone had put it there. Someone thought I might still use it.That was the part that dug under my skin.Someone believed I wasn’t finished.I wanted to laugh at the thought, but my chest seized when I tried. The sound came out broken, jagged.So instead, I reached. My fingers brushed the hilt, tentative at first, then firmer. The bandages on my palms split a little
Last Updated: 2025-08-27
Chapter: Thalia POVThe dirt clung to my skin even as the world slipped away. I didn’t faint so much as my body forced itself into silence, like shutting down was the only way to keep me from shattering.When I woke, the stone ceiling swam above me. My throat burned with thirst, my stomach cramped with hunger, and every inch of me ached as if my bones had been replaced with rusted iron. The cot beneath me was stiff, but it was still the first surface in days that wasn’t dirt or stone. The blanket tangled around my legs like a restraint.For a long time, I lay there. Breathing. Just breathing.My hands, bandaged poorly by someone who clearly didn’t care about the stitching of flesh, throbbed in sync with my heartbeat. The blisters had burst open again and again until my palms were one raw map of pain. Whoever wrapped them didn’t bother with ointment. The bandages smelled faintly of iron and sweat.The door creaked open before I could pull myself upright.Luca. Again. Of course.He leaned against the frame
Last Updated: 2025-08-26
Chapter: Thalia POVThe shovel slid from my hands.The clang when it hit the dirt rang through the yard like a bell, sharp enough to turn heads. My arms dangled uselessly at my sides, muscles twitching with tremors I couldn’t stop. I wanted to pick the damned thing back up, to prove I wasn’t done, but my fingers wouldn’t obey me anymore. They curled into bloody claws, nails clogged with soil, palms shredded raw.Luca loomed nearby, arms crossed, waiting for me to collapse so he could sneer, I told you so.I didn’t give him the satisfaction. I braced my knees, forced my back straight, and stared at the half-turned ground. The sun had bled away, leaving streaks of purple and gold in the sky, and shadows stretched long across the yard. The air cooled, but inside my chest, a furnace raged.One more day. Tomorrow, I’d finish.A laugh carried across the training yard—one of the warriors, perched against the wall with his friends. “Look at her. Shaking like a leaf.”“Leaves don’t bleed like that,” another mutte
Last Updated: 2025-08-26
Chapter: Thalia POVSleep was a stranger.They’d shoved me into a small, stone-walled chamber near the barracks. No window, just a narrow slit where moonlight managed to slip through and paint the floor in a pale streak. A cot sat in the corner, thin blanket folded with military precision, but my body refused to surrender to it.Every time I closed my eyes, ghosts rose to greet me. Faces I’d buried. Names I’d never forget. Isabella’s voice—sharp, cold, laced with steel—echoed in my skull. You’ll never have what you once did.I didn’t deserve the cot, or the blanket, or the air filling my lungs. I knew that. Still, I sat hunched on the edge of it, hands twisted tight, listening to the faint sounds of the pack outside. Their laughter. Their footsteps. Their lives. Lives I’d poisoned.When the first cracks of dawn slipped through the slit in the wall, I rose. My legs felt like stone, but I forced them to move. Today was the day. Penance, she had called it. Punishment, I knew.The door slammed open before I
Last Updated: 2025-08-26
Chapter: Isabella POVThe weight of my own words lingered in the air, heavy as stone. You’ll stay. The sentence should have felt like victory, like reclaiming power after years of betrayal. Instead, it sat bitter on my tongue.Behind me, I heard the faint scrape of Thalia’s boots as she shifted, uncertain whether she was allowed to breathe, much less speak.I turned slowly, eyes sharp as blades. “Don’t mistake silence for safety. You’re here because I’ve chosen to keep my enemy where I can see her—not because I’ve forgotten what you are.”Her lips parted, a fragile thing. “I understand.”I narrowed my eyes. “Do you? You’ll eat when I say, work where I say, and sleep under guard until I decide otherwise. My people will look at you and see a viper in their house. And if you so much as blink in a way I don’t like, I won’t hesitate to end this arrangement.”Her hands clenched at her sides, but her voice was steady. “That’s more than I deserve.”I hated her composure. Hated that she didn’t rise to my cruelty, d
Last Updated: 2025-08-26
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