MasukCeleste POVThe moment I walked into my room, the weight I had been holding in finally broke.I didn’t even make it to the bed properly before the tears came.Hot.Uncontrolled.Painful.I sat down, my hands covering my face as everything rushed out at once. The fear. The anger. The memories I had buried so deep I thought they would never surface again.Dark Moon Pack.That place.Those people.That life.I was going back.The door opened behind me, but I didn’t turn.I didn’t need to.I knew it was Ryan.His presence had always been steady like that. Familiar. Safe.He didn’t say anything as he walked in. No questions. No demands.Just quiet understanding.Then his arms wrapped around me.And that was it.I broke even more.I leaned into him, my hands gripping his shirt as I cried against his chest. He held me firmly, one hand resting gently at the back of my head, the other around my shoulders.“It’s okay,” he murmured softly.But it wasn’t.It wasn’t okay.“I don’t want to go back
Celeste POVThe room felt too small.Even though it was one of the largest offices in the palace, it still felt like the walls were closing in on me.Maybe it was the tension.Maybe it was the weight of what was being said.Or maybe it was the fact that for the first time in a long time—I felt like I was losing control.I sat quietly, my hands clasped together on my lap, staring at the floor as the silence stretched between us.Ryan stood by the window, his arms folded, his expression unreadable.Kharl stood a few steps away from me, his presence heavy, his eyes fixed on me like he was trying to understand what I was thinking.And my father Sat behind his desk, watching all of us.Thinking.Calculating.Deciding.I hated it.I hated that feeling.That I was about to be told what to do with my life again.Just like before.Just like five years ago.I swallowed hard, trying to steady myself.“We need to think carefully about this,” Ryder said finally, breaking the silence.His voice wa
Celeste POV My father was still speaking.“…there was outside help. The guards were killed. The barrier was broken from within.”His voice sounded distant.Like I was underwater.Like everything around me had slowed down except the pounding in my chest.Killed.Barrier broken.Escaped.The words echoed, but they didn’t settle.Because all I could see—Was him.Markus.The way his eyes used to look at me.Cold.Calculating.Like I wasn’t a person.Like I was something to break.Something to control.Something to own.My breathing became shallow.Too fast.Too tight.“Celeste.”Ryan’s voice.Sharp. Close.I blinked.Hard.Forcing myself back.Back into the room.Back into the present.“I’m fine,” I said quickly, even though my voice came out softer than I wanted.Too soft.Too fragile.A lie.Kharl didn’t say anything.But I felt it.His attention.Heavy.Focused.On me.I hated that.Hated that he could probably see right through me.Hated that my body reacted to him—Even now.Even a
Celeste POVI woke up flushed.Not the soft kind of warmth that comes from sleep.No.This was different.My skin felt too hot, my heart was beating faster than it should, and for a few seconds, I just lay there staring at the ceiling, trying to understand why.Then it hit me.The dream.My eyes widened slightly.“Oh my God…”I turned onto my side, burying my face into the pillow for a second as the memory came rushing back. The way he had looked at me. The way he had touched me. The way I had responded.Heat rushed through me again, and I groaned softly.“I can’t believe this,” I muttered.Out of everything my mind could have chosen to dream about—It chose to have a sex dream about Kharl. Of all people.I sat up slowly, running a hand through my hair, trying to shake it off.“Get it together, girl,” I told myself under my breath.It was just a dream.Just my mind playing tricks on me after everything that had been happening.Nothing more.Nothing deeper.I refused to let it mean any
Ryan POVThe palace felt quieter after dinner.Not empty, just calmer, like the whole place had finally exhaled after a long day of pretending everything was normal. I stood in the hallway for a moment, watching Celeste head off with the children and Kharl for their family evening. There was still tension there, even from a distance. I could see it in the way Celeste carried herself, too controlled, too careful, like she was holding herself together by force. But the children were happy, and right now that mattered more than anything else.Still, once they disappeared around the corner, I found myself not wanting to return to the same heavy thoughts that had been circling my head all day. There had been too much tension, too much anger, too much responsibility. I didn’t want Janet to end the night sitting in a room alone with all of that still hanging in the air.So instead of going straight back to my room, I found her in the sitting area outside my chambers, seated quietly with her
The door to my room clicked shut with a soft finality that should have brought relief. Instead, it only amplified the restless heat still simmering under my skin. The night had been too long, too charged. Kharl’s voice, seating close to him and perceiving his sweet scent stayed in my mind in a dream-like haze of memory, refused to fade. I kicked off my shoes, peeled away the dress that suddenly felt too tight, and slipped into bed wearing nothing but a thin silk slip.The sheets were cool against my overheated skin, but they did nothing to calm the ache low in my belly. I curled onto my side, hugging a pillow to my chest, and closed my eyes.Just sleep, I told myself. Tomorrow you go back to normal. Tomorrow this longing stops.But sleep came fast and treacherous.The dream pulled me under like warm honey.I was back in Kharl’s room, but the space felt different—darker, more intimate, the air thick with the scent of him: pine, musk, and raw male desire. Moonlight spilled through the w
Ryan POVRyan noticed her because she did not belong to the noise.The council halls were always alive with subtle movement—leaders positioning themselves, delegates circling like careful predators, voices rising and falling in polite negotiations that meant far more than they sounded. Most people
Ryan POVRyan knew something was different the moment he saw her.Janet wasn’t standing by the wall today.She was sitting on one of the low benches near the eastern courtyard, hands clasped tightly together, staring straight ahead without seeing anything. The shawl still wrapped around her shoulde
Ryan POVRyan knew the exact moment it happened.Not because there was lightning. Not because his heart raced or the world tilted. It was quieter than that. More dangerous in its certainty.Janet was standing beside him near the western garden path, watching a pair of delegates argue in low voices
Celeste POVThe corridor outside the mediation chambers was quieter than usual.Most delegates had already dispersed to evening discussions or returned to their quarters to prepare reports for the next session. The stone walls held onto the fading warmth of the day, and the soft lantern light cast







