LOGINChapter Sixty-One
More InfluenceAngel MeadowsShe stood still, watching other maids file outside the hall. "Let's take this to my room, shall we?"She didn't say anything else as she followed behind me quietly, like a good servant she had been all these years of her life. Where she deserved to be, not dreaming of even becoming a queen because she was in no way fit for that."What do you think about my husband and I's decision to have children?" IChapter Eighty-twoAn ErrandJordanRuby had been talking since breakfast, and I had understood perhaps one word in ten. She had shown me every one of her trunks, told me about the coast, the sea air, and a dressmaker who cheated her. Then she went on and arranged and rearranged everything in my room until the whole upstairs smelled like a funeral."And then the woman actually had the nerve to say that the lace was imported," she was saying now, curled against my shoulder on the sitting room sofa with her feet tucked beneath her. "As if I couldn't tell the difference between Valcourt lace and the cheap stuff they sell at the docks. Jord, are you even listening to me?""I'm listening." But I really wasn't, my ears had tired out a long time ago as I stared at the clock on the mantle, whose hands had not moved in what felt like years. "Ruby, I think I should go to the estate.""Whatever for?" She sat up, and her copper hair spilled over her shoulder. "Your Alpha told you to rest, at leas
Chapter Eighty-onePreparations Aveline MeadowsThe door closed behind Angel, and I waited until her footsteps faded down the hall and a small bitter smile came over my face. My hands were still burning from where she had touched, and it my entire body was trembling and shaking with rage that I couldn't do anything or hurt her in my current state."Miss?" Physician Brannock stirred in his chair for the first time since he had been sleeping for almost five hours. He pushed up his spectacles to rest on his nose with one crooked finger, and he looked towards dthe the door. "Forgive me for I must have dozed off, but was the Luna here to visit you?"Dozed off? For six hours? I had to hold my laughter back."Yes, Mr. Brannock. The Luna was very kind to check up on me and bring me some broth.""Hm." He rose with a groan and shuffled towards my bed, and he peeled the blanket away to inspect my ankle. "Lest I forget, eh, the Alpha has put two guards outside your door, you know, and he told me
Chapter EightyA HostessAveline MeadowsThe entire room fell silent that one could hear the sound of a pin of it fell. Angel's hands hovered over my face, and she went still at once."What did you say?" Her voice was so low that I could hear the deep trembling in her voice and the way the colour drained from her face. I stared at this woman I had tried so hard all my life, to make her see me as her sister, and something broke inside me.I broke the tension in the room with a soft chuckle. "Relax, Luna Angel," I said softly. "I'm only kidding. Gosh! Look at your face! Do I look like a woman who would take her sister's husband after she has been so good to me by giving me a roof over my head and a job that pays me. If anything, I need to be grateful to you. Which also means that you don't owe me anything. And any questions or anything you want, I will answer it without fail.""That was not funny." Angel snatched her hand back and folded both arms across her chest, though I noticed that
Chapter Seventy-nineAnything I AskAlpha Ash CadenIt wasn't morning yet when Angel came to find me in the corridor outside the infirmary where I had stayed the whole night looking after Aveline. It was now that the physician became very stern with me and told me to leave at once before I became his second patient. And that was when I saw her.Her skin looked really bright and clear even when the sun wasn't out yet, and her clothes were very beautiful, and her hair properly styled. It was then I remembered that today was the pre-tournament party and she was going to be welcoming a lot of guests today. She was smiling really brightly while my mind was spinning at the physician's words some hours ago.A wolf would have been able to knit her bike withing two days, yet, Aveline had no wolf, and it only reminded me of the mate I was looking for who had no wolf. But my wolf would recognise my mate if he met her again, meaning that Aveline wasn't her, which was more frustrating than anythin
Chapter Seventy-eightI'll Be HereAveline MeadowsThe first thing I knew was the smell of the healer's room, and the second was the pain that was running from my ankle all the way up to my hip as though someone had wrapped my leg in fire. I opened my eyes to a ceiling of whitewashed beams and a lamp turned low on the table, and a familiar shadow was sitting across the wall beside me that I thought he had slept off until he spoke."Don't move." Alpha Ash said softly, and his warm hand pressed my shoulder flat against the pillow before I could even try to sit. "Your ankle is broken, and you have a gash along your forearm that needs to be washed, so stay where you are and let us work."He sat on a stool beside the cot with his coat gone and his sleeves rolled to the elbow. There was a basin of steaming water at his feet and a roll of clean bandage across his knee. My blood had dried on the cuff of his shirt, and I looked up and saw the healers standing in a straight line while they were
Chapter Seventy-sevenA PlanAngel Meadows"Bring her in quietly." I said it from the window of my sitting room, with the curtains drawn and a single candle burning on the table. "And make sure no one sees her face on the way up."The guards brought Sera through the servants' passage just as the light was fading, with her gray shawl pulled over her head and her shoes muddy to the ankles. She had been ignoring my letters for the past few days after thinking she could mock my position as the Luna. I was going to show her what real power meant if she didn't do as I said."Get up." I turned from the window and folded my hands in front of me. "I'm not going to hit you, Sera. If I had wanted that, I would have asked the guards to do it there before bringing you to me.""Luna." She rose slowly with her eyes on the floor, her hands clasped together, and I could see the tears that made her shawl stick to her face. "You sent for me, and I came. What do you want?""I want to use your gift in thi







