Masuk~Valeria~ “I do not care what title or identity you think I lack,” Alerion said. “None of that changes the fact that I will protect Valeria. Your approval means nothing to me. If she wants me beside her, that is where I’ll stay.”Silence followed.
~Valeria~Dad gathered the royal old troops for a preparation meeting for my restoration ceremony, and one scornful look thrown at the guys told me they were not welcome here.“What exactly are Cassian’s sons doing here?” one of the troops demanded. “Guards, send them out.”Zane let out a hum
~Valeria~We'd been home for maybe three hours. Long enough to eat, shower, dump our bags, and stare at each other like we all survived something we probably shouldn't have. Then Caius sat down with the three tokens lined up in front of him and said we needed to combine them tonight."I’m not cut out for that right now, man." Zane pulled a face. "It can wait till morning."
~Lysander~Getting out of bed without waking her was one of the harder things I'd done recently and the bar had been pretty high lately.My body fought me the whole way. The dizziness hit the second I got upright, and I grabbed the bedframe and stayed still until it passed. When it eventually did, I went over to the window to observe. Outside was the training ground. I could see it from here, the open space behind the house, the worn patches of grass where we trained. Empty now in the early morning dark.I stood there and looked at it and made a list in my head.Strength. I needed more of it. Alerion had it, Zane had his speed, Caius had his head, and I had what. Quick reflexes and the ability to make everything into a joke. That wasn't going to cut it when the Dark Wolf King came for the ceremony and Val needed people around her who could actually protect her. I found a notebook on the side table. Pen inside the cover. I took them both back to the window so I could see the light co
~Lysander~I turned my head slowly, mostly just to see if I could, and that's when I saw her.Val was asleep in the chair next to my bed. Head down on her arms, the way you fall asleep when you sat down for just a second and then didn't mean to stay. Her hair had fallen across her face and she was breathing slow and even and she looked more relaxed than I'd seen her look in weeks, which honestly said everything about the current state of our lives that she was getting her best rest in a hospital chair in a room with her possibl
~Valeria~Lysander had been quiet. Which should've been my first clue.While the vines were concentrated on the other three, while the stronghold was busy making its ultimatum, Lysander had been slowly moving to the side of the platform. Watching the way they moved, the pattern of them, where they were paying attention.He looked at me once. The one that meant I know what I'm doin
~Valeria~I never thought watching someone destroy the only photo I had of my dad would be the moment I finally snapped, but here we are.The photo I'd accidentally dropped yesterday when my bag split open in chemistry class was snatched by Lily Blake. The one I'd been frantically searching for all
~Valeria~If my stepfather sets me up on one more blind date, I'm literally going to snap and it's going to be his problem, not mine.Like, I'm talking about a full meltdown in the middle of whatever fancy restaurant he picks. Maybe I'll start crying about my "daddy issues" loud enough for the whol
~Caius~I'd been in this library for two hours, supposedly researching Carson's background, but really just watching her study by the window. She turned that bronze badge over and over in her hands, eyebrows scrunched in concentration as she read through another dusty book.The Carson research had
~Alerion~There are moments when you realize your father sees people as chess pieces instead of human beings, and today was apparently going to be one of those days.The blind date agreement hit the desk with a sound that ruined the study's silence. Everything about it screamed transaction rather t







