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CHAPTER TWO: The Beast Behind the Glass
Last Updated:
2025-06-24 19:16:04
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Beast Billionaire Claim CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN: The Hollow's Breath
The Vale had always been a city of stone, but that night, the stone itself seemed to shiver.Maxim felt it first beneath his boots, a faint tremor that rippled through the cobbles as though the ground were breathing. He stopped at the corner of a ruined street, lifting his hand for silence. His loyalists—those who had bled beside him only nights before—halted in unison.The wind that moved between the gutted houses was wrong. It was not the scent of ash or smoke, not even the copper of spilled blood. It was cold, damp, and empty. A breath drawn from a place that should not have been able to breathe.Zara came to his side, her staff’s crystal dim against the darkness. “You feel it too?”Maxim nodded slowly. “The Hollow.”One of the younger men behind them shifted uneasily, his voice cracking. “But the Hollow’s sealed. The Gate holds—doesn’t it?”The tremor answered for him. A low, grinding groan shook the stones, and dust fell in thin streams from broken arches. The Vale had begun to p
Beast Billionaire Claim CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN: The Queen of Cinders
The fire came at dawn.Vale had always been a city of stone, a fortress that had endured centuries of storms, invasions, and even the Hollow’s shadow. But stone meant little when the flames were loosed not by accident, but by decree.From the northern ramparts, Maxim watched smoke coil into the sky like the arms of some monstrous serpent. Whole districts writhed beneath the crown’s wrath, the blaze consuming shopfronts, houses, temples—anywhere Ruby’s guards declared disloyal.“By the spirits,” muttered Garrick, his Beta, the scars on his cheek flickering in the firelight. “She’s burning them alive.”Maxim said nothing at first. The Beast inside him prowled, teeth pressing against his control. Its instinct was simple: strike back, rend the oppressor limb from limb. But Maxim held firm, fists digging crescents into his palms. If he gave the Beast too much, it would never stop.Instead, he listened. The city itself seemed to scream beneath the flames—timbers snapping like bones, childre
Beast Billionaire Claim CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN: The Beast Unbound
The Vale had not known quiet for weeks, but the night before the clash was unnaturally still. Smoke lingered above the ruined quarter where Ruby’s guard had marched earlier, their boots striking sparks across broken stone. The refugees huddled in shadow, whispering prayers to gods who had long since stopped answering. And through it all, Maxim felt the Beast gnawing at his ribs, restless, impatient, eager for blood.Zara stood at his side, her face lit faintly by the lantern glow. Her fingers brushed his wrist—steady, grounding, as if she could feel the war in his chest.“If you give in too far,” she whispered, “you won’t come back.”“I know,” he said, though the words tasted like ash. Lies always did. The Beast pressed harder, a claw scraping against his soul.The cry of a horn broke the silence. Ruby’s guard had returned, marching through the ash-strewn streets with their polished armor gleaming red in torchlight. Behind them, a war-banner rippled, its golden crown stitched in fire-
Beast Billionaire Claim CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE: Ash And Iron
The Vale no longer breathed as one. Its heart had split, and the sound of it echoed through every alley, every scorched stone.From the high balcony of the obsidian hall, Ruby Vale looked down upon the gathered crowd. Faces lifted toward her—some tight with loyalty, others hollow with fear. She gripped the railing with a hand that trembled, though she refused to let them see. The Hollow’s whispers pressed at the back of her skull, urging her to speak louder, to burn brighter, to command or be swallowed.Her crown caught the morning light, but her eyes gleamed hotter than gold.“My people,” Ruby began, her voice carrying through the silent square, “a cancer festers in our midst. Those who call themselves oath-bound to a beast who would undo this city—those are not kin of the Vale. They are traitors.”A ripple moved through the crowd. Mothers clutched children closer, soldiers shifted uneasily in their iron helms. Somewhere below, a man shouted Maxim’s name—but it was quickly drowned by
Beast Billionaire Claim CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN: The First Spark
The Vale had not yet declared war, but war had already declared itself upon the Vale.The city felt different. Smoke didn’t rise openly, but the air carried the tang of iron, of torches burned too late into the night, of doors slammed shut before questions could be asked. Shops along the riverfront kept their shutters drawn; streets once alive with traders and gossip now trembled with whispers. Guards in Ruby’s crimson livery patrolled in pairs, shields gleaming, spears sharp. And in the shadows of ruined quarters where fire had swept months before, Maxim’s oath-bound loyalists moved just as deliberately, their presence quieter but no less sharp-edged.Everyone said the same thing in their own way: this wasn’t war. Not yet. But a spark only needed the smallest breath of wind.Maxim stood at the edge of Cindermarket, the square that once hosted color, life, and laughter. Now its cobblestones were cracked, ash still lingering between the stones. Elira’s statue, toppled by decree weeks a
Beast Billionaire Claim CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TEN: The Vale Divided
The Vale did not sleep that night.From the shattered courtyard of the throne hall to the broken terraces of the city below, torches burned like stars fallen to the earth. Their flames did not unite—they drew lines. Some clustered in the east beneath the banner Ruby had raised: a crown gilded in fire. Others massed in the west, where Maxim’s vow had taken root, their standards carrying no crest save the memory of Elira’s name.Between them stretched silence so tense it felt louder than war drums.Maxim stood at the edge of the ruined dais, the cracked marble beneath him still warm from the clash. His chest heaved, his Beast restless but bound, its growl trapped under his skin. Across from him, Ruby held her scorched scepter as if it were an anchor. Her hair clung damp to her brow, her eyes gleaming with Hollow-fire that flickered too bright to be mortal.Neither spoke at first. The people filled the silence.“Queen Ruby!” voices cried from one side.“Vale to Elira’s vow!” shouted the
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