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CHAPTER 16
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2025-12-21 16:00:22The palace did not feel the same after the court dispersed.
It had not returned to peace. It had tightened instead, like a body bracing for another blow. Guards moved in pairs now, armor still smeared with soot and blood. Servants kept their heads down and their steps quick. Every corridor carried the echo of whispered speculation.
Elowen felt it all like pressure against his skin.
Royal protection followed him whether he wanted it or not. Two guards trailed at a respectful distance as he moved through the inner wing, their presence both shield and signal. The king’s choice had not made him safer. It had made him visible, and he hated it.
By the time he reached the small solar assigned to him near Corvin’s chambers, his nerves were pulled tight enough to ache. He dismi
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Caged by a King CHAPTER 17
The restrictions came quietly.Elowen noticed them first in the morning, when two guards waited outside his door instead of one. They did not follow at a distance anymore. They flanked him, close enough that he could feel the scrape of their armor when he turned too sharply.He said nothing at first.The palace had learned to watch him the way hunters watched fire, not moving too close, not turning their backs. After the attack, fear clung to the walls, and no one trusted shadows anymore.But by midday, the pattern was undeniable.Doors that had once opened for him now required a word from Corvin’s seal. Corridors that had been neutral ground became redirected paths. Even the gardens were off limits, closed “until further notice
Caged by a King CHAPTER 16
The palace did not feel the same after the court dispersed.It had not returned to peace. It had tightened instead, like a body bracing for another blow. Guards moved in pairs now, armor still smeared with soot and blood. Servants kept their heads down and their steps quick. Every corridor carried the echo of whispered speculation.Elowen felt it all like pressure against his skin.Royal protection followed him whether he wanted it or not. Two guards trailed at a respectful distance as he moved through the inner wing, their presence both shield and signal. The king’s choice had not made him safer. It had made him visible, and he hated it.By the time he reached the small solar assigned to him near Corvin’s chambers, his nerves were pulled tight enough to ache. He dismi
Caged by a King CHAPTER 15
The palace above them did not fall silent all at once. The noise receded in uneven waves, shouts breaking apart into commands, commands into echoes. When Corvin finally lifted his head from the stone door, his expression had shifted from alert to intent.“Tavris has control,” he said.Elowen watched him closely. “How do you know?”“The cadence changed,” Corvin replied. “Mercenaries do not shout orders like that, guards do. Tavris is pushing them back wing by wing.”Elowen exhaled slowly. The tension in his chest eased, though it did not disappear. “Then we are not trapped.”“We were never trapped,” Corvin said. “We were delayed.”He slid the iron bar free and pressed the concealed latc
Caged by a King CHAPTER 14
They moved fast through the corridor, but the palace did not feel far away anymore. Its noise seeped down through the stone like water through cracks. Elowen could hear muffled shouts above them, the hard clang of steel, and the occasional slam of doors as guards tried to seal wings that had already been breached.Corvin led without hesitation. His steps were quiet, controlled, and certain. He did not look back until they reached the next bend. When he finally did, his gaze swept over Elowen in one hard glance.“You are bleeding again,” Corvin said.Elowen touched his side and felt the dampness spreading. The blade had caught him earlier, and he had ignored it because survival demanded it. Now the pain had sharpened into a steady burn that made his ribs feel tight.
Caged by a King CHAPTER 13
Somewhere above them, Valdris roared.Elowen heard it through stone and distance as if the palace itself had a pulse. Boots struck floors in uneven rhythms. Every so often, a sound rose too high and broke too quickly, which meant someone had screamed and then stopped.Corvin did not slow. He moved through the tunnel with the certainty of someone who had memorized these routes in childhood and carried them into war. His sword remained in his hand, point angled downward, ready to rise in an instant.Elowen followed close enough to feel the warmth of Corvin’s back in the cold air. The wound at his side throbbed with each step, but he kept his breathing even. He had learned long ago not to let pain become a voice.The tunnel narrowed, then widened into a chamber where the ceiling lifted and the air grew damp. Water dripped somewhere in the dark. The smell of earth and old stone pressed into Elowen’s senses, heavy and ancient, as though this place remembered the first crown that ever sat i
Caged by a King CHAPTER 12
The corridor stayed still for a moment longer, as if the palace itself listened.Elowen could feel Corvin’s breath, steady and controlled, even after the chase. The king stood close enough that the warmth of his body cut through the chill left by the dark powder. The words hung between them with a weight that made Elowen’s chest tighten.Chosen.Elowen did not step back, but he did not lean in either. He held himself in the narrow space between instinct and reason, between what he had come here to do and what he was beginning to want.Then the palace screamed.A horn sounded from somewhere above them, sharp and urgent. It was followed by a second, lower call, then the heavy clang of metal struck against metal. Voices rose, too many at once, the rhythm of panic spreading through stone like a crack in ice.Corvin’s head turned slightly, listening. The change in him was immediate. The warmth that had surfaced in his gaze extinguished, replaced by a cold focus that had carried him through
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