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Chapter 19
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2025-10-12 03:12:58
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Chains Of The Heart Chapter 83
Corinne’s remaining sons ran — dragging wives, clutching crying infants, stumbling through the brush. Every few steps they looked over their shoulders as if expecting the darkness to grow fangs.It did.Damian tore through the trees, not bothering with stealth. He wanted them to hear him coming. Wanted the fear to rot them from the inside out before he ever laid a hand on them.A second son tried to fight, ramming a spear toward Damian’s ribs.Damian caught it with one hand.Snapped it.Ram the broken end through the man’s throat until the spearhead punched out the other side.The wife screamed.She ran two steps.Silas cut her down cleanly — because if Damian reached her first, it would not be mercy.A third son tried to hide the children behind a fallen oak. The attempt was noble — stupid — but noble.Damian ripped him off the trunk like a man lifting a chicken from a coop.The neck went first.The torso followed in two halves.The blood didn’t even have time to steam before he step
Chains Of The Heart Chapter 82
The air in the room tightened—thick, metallic, like a blade being drawn.Nathan didn’t need to raise his voice; the shift happened in his spine, in his eyes. One heartbeat he was calmly talking about how amazing Lady Sereia was—next heartbeat he was Lord Nathaniel, heir of Cross, the commander who had survived Vitale courts and lived to sneer about it.“Lock the gates,” Nathan said calmly.Ivy's breath stuttered, then steadied, matching his.“Seal the western road first,” he continued, already moving. “Southern scouts favor fast routes. They’ll test us there before committing. Double the watchtowers. I want crossbows manned, not stored. Anyone without orders does not move.”Within seconds Ivy was issuing sharp orders to the guards as if a string had been yanked. The hall erupted—boots striking stone, armor rattling, messengers sprinting. Cross men snapped into formation with a fear-born reverence; no one questioned Nathan’s command, not with that look on his face, cold as a frostbite
Chains Of The Heart Chapter 81
Within a day, the south staggered.Supply boats vanished from the Redholt docks—bought out, rerouted, or quietly confiscated under old Mercer law the Barons had forgotten existed.Merchantholds backing Halenshire’s coffers suddenly found their contracts void—Mercer agents presenting documents with signatures the Barons had carelessly ignored decades ago.Trade routes the south relied on?Closed. Bought. Reassigned.Coin didn’t just dry up; it curdled.And when the south panicked, it panicked loudly.Lord Trevis of Halenshire slammed a fist onto his war table hard enough to rattle maps.“Mercers!” he spat. “Those silver-eyed reptiles! They’ve been waiting for a chance like this.”Baroness Corinne of Redholt, all steel and dry humor even in crisis, arched a brow.“I told you poking the queen viper would end poorly.”Lord Emery of Tarron Vale ignored them both, eyes narrowing at the map.“The Mercers struck fast. Too fast. They’re protecting something.”Corinne’s lips curled. “Or someone
Chains Of The Heart Chapter 80
Nathan was mid-sentence—elbows on the table, sleeves rolled, quill tapping against a half-finished sketch of the new Cross estate—when the knock came.Not a polite knock.A collision with the door.Maria and Ivy stiffened at the same time. Nathan exhaled, already bracing. The courier looked like he’d sprinted the whole way from the gate—dust in his hair, breath coming in ragged bursts, eyes too wide to bode anything good.He bowed so sharply his forehead nearly hit his knees.“Lord Nathaniel… Lady Maria… Lady Ivy…”Nathan stood slowly. “All right,” he murmured, skeptical, already tasting trouble like iron on his tongue. “Give me the doom.”The courier swallowed. “The… southern barons, my lord. All three. Trevis… Corinne… Emery.” His voice wobbled. “They’ve begun their campaign.”Maria’s fingers tightened around the blueprints. Ivy’s daze hardend.Nathan nodded once, face setting into a cool composure that fooled exactly no one who knew him. “Details.”The courier licked his lips, then
Chains Of The Heart Chapter 79
The southern barons gathered that very same night — dragged together not by duty, certainly not by loyalty, but by fear.Word had spread faster than wildfire in drought.Seraphine Cross: dead.Victor Cross: dead.Executed without trial, without rite, without ceremony — torn apart by the king’s own hands.And Arabella Cross… found. Not runaway. Not traitor. A corpse crushed beneath stone, stolen and discarded.Now even the most arrogant southern lord felt his stomach knot.They met in a manor deep within the wetlands of Redholt — Dame Corinne’s stronghold. Heavy curtains. Maps littering the table. Wine untouched.No one dared drink.Lord Trevis of Halenshire was the first to speak.“So,” he muttered darkly, “the king has lost his mind.”A few nods, tight and nervous.Dame Corinne of Redholt scoffed under her breath. “He hasn’t lost anything,” she said sharply. “He’s finally focused. And that is significantly worse.” Her fingers drummed the table. “We expected Cross instability. Not the
Chains Of The Heart Chapter 78
Damian stood in the courtyard in full armor, cloak snapping in the wind like a dark, restless creature. The horses stamped, the guards waited, and the sky seemed to hold its breath — nothing dared move until the king did.Nathan stood beside him, hands clasped behind his back, posture perfect but energy a taut wire. He was bracing for the command he thought inevitable.Damian felt it. Felt him.“Nathan,” he said quietly, fastening the last clasp on his gauntlet.Nathan inhaled sharply. “Yes, Your Majesty.”“You’re not coming with me.”Nathan blinked. Once. Twice. His brows drew together. “I… what? Damian, the capital—”“Needs me,” Damian interrupted. “Not you.”Nathan’s jaw clicked shut. The sting was sharp, instinctive — but he knew Damian well enough to hear the truth below the words.Damian turned fully toward him, closing the space until their shoulders nearly brushed.“Maria and Ivy need you,” he said, voice low, stripped of any royal edge. “They have lost too much too fast. And
