LOGINMAYA
The war room erupted when I volunteered.
"Absolutely not" Asher said. His voice carried the weight of a king who expected obedience. "You are not going to an active combat zone."
"I know how Damien thinks. I know his patterns. I can predict where he will hit next."
"Then tell the soldiers. Give them your assessment. You do not need to be in the field."
I planted my hands on the table.
MAYA"He cannot have just vanished," Asher said, staring at the empty cell.But the evidence was undeniable. The iron door remained locked from the outside, the mechanism undamaged. The chains that had bound Damien lay coiled neatly on the floor. And two guards lay dead, their throats slit with precision."Check the secret passages," I ordered. "He must have used them to escape."Rhea was already moving. "We sealed every access point we found. Posted guards at each one.""Then we missed one. Search again."While teams spread through the dungeon, I examined the cell. The message written in blood covered one wall.See you soon, my love. We have unfinished business.The handwriting was unmistakably Damien's. Elegant even when written in a dead man's blood."There," Ethan said, pointing to the corner. "The stone is loose."We pried it free, revealing a narrow passage behind. Barely wide enough for a man to squeeze through."How did we miss this?" Rhea demanded."Because it was not on any
MAYADawn broke cold and gray over the execution grounds.I stood in the front row of witnesses, wrapped in a heavy cloak against the morning chill. Around me, survivors of the southern gate attack nursed fresh wounds. We had driven Mordain's forces back, but barely. Twenty-three more dead. Forty wounded.The cost kept climbing.Asher had chosen not to attend the execution. "I have seen enough death," he had said quietly. "I do not need to watch another man die, even one who deserves it."But I needed to be here. Needed to see this through.Gabriel was led onto the platform in chains, his hands bound behind his back. He had refused the traditional hood, wanting to face death with open eyes.He saw me in the crowd and smiled.That same infuriating smile he had worn during the trial.The executioner read the formal charges. Treason. Massacre. Attempted regicide. The list went on.Gabriel did not flinch. Did not beg. Just stood there with that smile as if this was all part of some elabor
Chapter 163MAYA Gabriel smiled as they dragged him into the throne room.Not the desperate smile of a man facing death. A genuine expression of amusement, as if this trial was the most entertaining thing he had seen in weeks.Blood still stained his clothes from the battle. His wounds had been treated just enough to keep him alive for trial. Bruises mottled his face where soldiers had not been gentle during his capture.He looked like he had been through hell.And he was still smiling."Gabriel Blackwood," Asher's voice cut through the murmurs filling the throne room. "You stand accused of treason, conspiracy to commit regicide, the massacre of Blue Moon pack, war crimes, and crimes against the crown. How do you plead?"Gabriel threw back his head and laughed.The sound echoed off the scorched walls, making several wolves flinch. It was not the laugh of a madman. It was genuine mirth."How do I plead?" He grinned at Asher. "Guilty, Your Majesty. Guilty of every glorious charge."Gas
MAYAThe throne room had been hastily repaired for the trial. Workers had cleared the debris from Gabriel's assault, but scorch marks still blackened the walls. A reminder of how close we had come to losing everything.Every seat was filled. Lycans and wolves packed together, united in their desire to see justice served. The air hummed with tension as guards led Kael in.He walked with his head high despite the chains binding his wrists and ankles. No fear showed on his weathered face. If anything, he looked annoyed by the inconvenience.They forced him to his knees before the throne where Asher sat, Maya standing beside him."Kael Whitmore," Asher's voice rang through the chamber. "You stand accused of treason, murder, conspiracy, and crimes against the crown. How do you answer these charges?"Kael lifted his chin. "Guilty of everything except treason. One cannot betray a kingdom one was trying to save."Murmurs rippled through the crowd."You murdered my mother," Asher said, his voi
MAYAI woke to urgent knocking on the chamber door.Asher was already moving, reaching for his sword before his eyes were fully open. Years of training made him react before thinking."Your Majesty," Rhea's voice came through the door. "We found her. We found Isabella."I sat up, pulling the sheet around myself. "Where?""Storage room beneath the old kitchens. She has been hiding there since the battle ended."Asher and I dressed quickly, not speaking but moving in synchronized efficiency born of our bond. Within minutes we were following Rhea through the palace corridors.The sun was just beginning to rise, painting the damaged walls in shades of gold and pink. Beautiful, despite everything.We descended into the lower levels of the palace, areas I had never explored. The air grew colder, damper. These storage rooms predated the current structure, carved from the bedrock the palace was built upon.Guards stood outside a heavy wooden door. Inside, I could hear whimpering."She was try
MAYAThe secret passages wound through the palace like veins through a body, hidden and invasive.I stood in the command chamber Asher's team had discovered, staring at the maps that documented our every movement. Detailed schedules of when I trained, when I visited the medical wing, when I was alone.Someone had been watching me for weeks. Maybe months."We found four more access points," Rhea reported, entering the chamber with Ethan. "One leads directly to the council room. Another to the armory. And two more to residential quarters.""How many people knew about these passages?" I asked."According to the architectural records Hendrick found, they were built during the palace's original construction three centuries ago. Emergency escape routes in case of siege." Rhea's expression was grim. "But the knowledge was supposed to die with the bu
GABRIELInformation was the most valuable weapon in existence.Not armies. Not claws. Not bloodlines or ancient powers or thrones made of bone and legacy. Information. The right piece at the right time placed in the right hands could topple empires faster than any sword.And I had just received a v
MAYAThe wolfsbane was eating me alive from the inside.Every step back to the kingdom was a war between my body and my will. The poison spread through my bloodstream like liquid fire. It burned along my veins and settled into my muscles and turned every movement into agony.My wolf fought it. I co
ISABELLAHe smelled like that basement room again.Dust and old paper and obsession. The scent clung to his clothes and his skin and followed him through the house like a ghost that refused to leave.I was sitting in the bedroom when he walked in. Midnight. He did not look at me. He walked straight
ASHERI almost went to her room three times that night.The first time I made it to the end of my corridor before stopping. The second time I reached the junction where my wing split from hers. The third time I stood outside her door with my hand raised and my knuckles an inch from the wood.Each t







