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227 In the Absence of a King 2
publish date:
2026-03-20 00:54:48
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Tempting the Wrong Prince 254 The Day I Finally Became Mine 4
Cassandra’s POVArden pulled me into his arms so fast I squeaked, and he lifted me slightly off the floor like he needed to confirm I was real.“Oh my God,” he murmured against my hair. “Oh my God.”His grip was careful, protective, not crushing, but fierce. I clung to him, tears spilling. For years, pregnancy had been my heartbreak. Now it felt like a miracle.Arden pulled back, cupped my face, and kissed me.Not slow this time.Desperate.Grateful.Like he’d been starving too.He kissed my cheeks, my forehead, my lips again.“I can’t believe it,” he whispered. “I can’t, Cassy,”I laughed softly, wiping my tears.“I didn’t believe it either. I tested twice.”Arden’s eyes looked wet, and seeing that nearly destroyed me.“This is… this is ours,” he whispered.I nodded, breath trembling.“Yes.”Arden’s hands rested on my waist, then slid gently to my belly like he was afraid to touch, afraid to jinx it. He looked at me like I was sacred.“We’re celebrating,” he murmured, voice low.I smi
Tempting the Wrong Prince 253 The Day I Finally Became Mine 2
Cassandra’s POVI turned to Silvia and hugged her carefully.Silvia hugged me back, surprised but pleased.When I pulled away, I glanced at her ring again.“It’s beautiful,” I murmured.Silvia smiled. “He chose it himself.”I laughed.“That’s a miracle.”Richard rolled his eyes lightly.“I’m standing right here.”We all laughed, and the laughter felt like healing.Then, something I didn’t expect, I saw Ivana and Theodore.They were in attendance.Not as rulers.As… family.Theodore looked older than he had a month ago. The poisoning and coma had left him weaker, his posture not as rigid, his face paler. But he was upright, present, watching with eyes that looked almost thoughtful.Ivana walked beside him quietly, not pushing, not dominating. She looked smaller too, stripped of her old arrogance. The stabbing had humbled her in a way court arguments never could.When Ivana approached, my body instinctively tensed.Old reflex.Old fear.She stopped a few steps away, as if recognising th
Tempting the Wrong Prince 252 The Day I Finally Became Mine
Cassandra’s POVThe morning of my wedding felt unreal in the quietest way. Not the kind of unreal that came with panic and chaos and guards dragging people through corridors. Not the kind that tasted like fear. This was softer. Like I’d woken up inside a life I used to imagine in secret and then punished myself for imagining because the palace had taught me hope was a dangerous thing.The room was calm. No rush of palace maids yelling schedules. No court women hovering with fake smiles. No press outside the gates waiting to capture a scandal. No Ivana storming in with sharp words and sharper eyes. Just my dress hanging neatly by the wardrobe, and Diana moving around me with gentle efficiency, like she was handling something delicate that could shatter if she breathed too hard.The wedding was quiet and private. Arden had insisted. He didn’t want the court. He didn’t want the palace to swallow our moment and turn it into a performance for hungry people and gossiping ministers. He didn’
Tempting the Wrong Prince 251 Smoke, Crowns, and the Woman Who Walked In 2
Richard’s POVIvana stepped toward the door, paused briefly as if she wanted to say something else, then thought better of it. She left. The door shut softly behind her.I stood there for a moment, staring at the space she had occupied, feeling the strange emptiness she left behind.Not grief.Not relief.Just… the quiet aftermath of a lifetime of conflict shifting into a new shape.I turned toward the stairs, ready to retire, because exhaustion had finally caught up to me.Then my butler appeared quietly from the corridor, posture formal.“Your Majesty,” he said.I still wasn’t used to that title in private spaces.“Yes?” I replied.His expression remained neutral, but his eyes held a subtle hint of something, amusement, perhaps.“Lady Silvia is here to see you,” he said.I froze.“Silvia?” I repeated.The butler nodded. “She requested to see you personally.”My heart gave a strange, unexpected kick.I cleared my throat.“Send her in.”The butler bowed and stepped out.A moment later
Tempting the Wrong Prince 250 Smoke, Crowns, and the Woman Who Walked In 2
Richard’s POVArden’s eyes hardened slightly.“He surrendered. And now Roger and his entire family are in prison due to war crimes.”We sat with that for a moment. Not because we felt pity. Because it was a reminder of how fast power could collapse when you built it on bullying.One day you were threatening a kingdom.The next day you were negotiating your life from a cell.We laughed again, quiet, dark laughter, the kind men shared when they understood the world’s cruelty too well.Then I looked at my brothers and felt something shift in me, something like gratitude. Not the kind you said out loud easily. The kind you carried quietly. Because as much as my life had been ruined by my mother’s manipulation, as much as my marriage had been destroyed by forces inside this palace, my brothers had been the reason Eldenwald still stood.They were the reason the grain arrived. They were the reason Belmonte’s grip loosened. They were the reason Aldrich was exposed. And they were the reason I
Tempting the Wrong Prince 249 Smoke, Crowns, and the Woman Who Walked In
Richard’s POVOne month. That was all it took for the palace to reshape itself around a new reality. One month since the gate ran red and my mother fell like a broken statue. One month since Father’s tea stopped being a harmless habit and became a weapon. One month since Aldrich’s smile turned into a confession, and the country finally got to see what we had been living inside, treason dressed as service, ambition dressed as patriotism.One month since I realised how close we came to losing everything.The strangest part was how quickly people got used to survival. The palace didn’t stop because the king was poisoned. The court didn’t stop because the queen consort was stabbed. The country didn’t stop because riots had cracked the gate and somebody had written revolution on our walls like a curse.Everything paused for a breath, then carried on.That was how monarchy survived. It didn’t survive by pretending nothing happened. It survived by continuing anyway.Father recovered.Ivana r
Tempting the Wrong Prince 218 The Poison That Chose Its Targets
Arden’s POVThe corridor outside the ICU had its own kind of time.It didn’t move like normal time. It stretched and tightened and snapped back again depending on what the doors did, whether they opened, whether they stayed shut, whether a nurse walked out with a neutral expression or a doctor came
Last Updated : 2026-04-05Tempting the Wrong Prince 217 The Call That Didn’t Need a Trace
Arden’s POVA revolution message sprayed on palace walls.My jaw tightened, but I forced my voice to remain steady.“What do you mean by that?” I asked.Roger’s laughter returned immediately, and this time it was almost delighted, like he enjoyed the way my question revealed interest.He didn’t ans
Last Updated : 2026-04-05Tempting the Wrong Prince 206 When the Crown Starts to Crack 4
Arden’s POVWe were still standing there, three princes in Father’s office, when the air shifted, that subtle warning the body feels before the mind catches up. The king’s desk was between us like a border. His tea steamed faintly in its cup, untouched for the first time since we walked in. The scr
Last Updated : 2026-04-04Tempting the Wrong Prince 204 When the Crown Starts to Crack 2
Arden’s POVI moved to the bar counter near the patio and poured water for all three of us. Not alcohol, not yet. We needed clear heads.I carried the glasses over.Richard took his without looking at me.Sebastien drank half of his in one go.I sat last.For a few minutes, we did something that pr
Last Updated : 2026-04-04
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