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chapter 194

ผู้เขียน: Stephany Throne
last update ปรับปรุงล่าสุด: 2026-02-10 23:23:38

Celeste

Night did not arrive cleanly.

It slid in under the snow, diluted and cautious, like it knew better than to announce itself. The sky dimmed by degrees, light thinning until shapes mattered more than color. Torches were kept low. Fires stayed banked. Nothing that could be read from below.

I walked the line again as evening settled, slower this time. Not inspection—presence. Men straightened when they saw me, not out of fear, but habit. They wanted to be seen. To be counted. I let my eyes
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  • Game of hearts: The Ruthless Alpha and his warrior bride    chapter 195

    Chapter CelesteBy the third day, the mountain stopped pretending this was temporary.Snow had packed into ice along the ridge, boots carving familiar grooves that no longer filled in between skirmishes. The air tasted metallic, thin enough to scrape the throat. Even the men moved differently now—economical, conserving motion without being told.That was how you knew a fight had settled in. When survival stopped being dramatic and became routine.I woke before dawn again, not from fear this time, but calculation. The enemy had probed west, then center. They’d tested our patience, our traps, our timing. They would not repeat themselves. Not exactly.I stepped out into the dim light and found Mara already awake, crouched beside a map weighted with stones.“Fog’s coming,” she said without looking up.I followed her gaze. The valley was swallowed in a low gray swell, thick and slow-moving.“How long?” I asked.“Hard to say. Could burn off by noon. Could sit all day.”I nodded. Fog favore

  • Game of hearts: The Ruthless Alpha and his warrior bride    chapter 194

    CelesteNight did not arrive cleanly.It slid in under the snow, diluted and cautious, like it knew better than to announce itself. The sky dimmed by degrees, light thinning until shapes mattered more than color. Torches were kept low. Fires stayed banked. Nothing that could be read from below.I walked the line again as evening settled, slower this time. Not inspection—presence. Men straightened when they saw me, not out of fear, but habit. They wanted to be seen. To be counted. I let my eyes meet theirs, one by one. Names surfaced without effort. So did the small things: who favored their left leg, who’d stopped rubbing their hands because the broth had done its job, who was wound tight enough to snap if left alone too long.I paused beside Lysa near the southern brace. She had a clean bandage wrapped around her forearm, blood already seeping through the cloth in faint blooms.“You should’ve been pulled back,” I said.She shrugged with her uninjured shoulder. “It’s shallow.”“It’s

  • Game of hearts: The Ruthless Alpha and his warrior bride    chapter 193

    CelesteThe quiet after they pulled back was heavier than the fighting.Not because it was peaceful. Because it was unfinished.Men didn’t cheer. No one relaxed. Shields stayed braced, eyes kept drifting downslope, tracking movement that might turn back at any second. Victory makes noise. This hadn’t been that. This was a pause taken by mutual agreement.I let it last.Only when the enemy line settled into something resembling a new order did I lift my hand. Slowly. Deliberately.“Rotation,” I said.The word passed without being shouted. Units peeled back in practiced pairs, fresh arms replacing tired ones, boots stepping into still-warm prints. The ridge breathed, just a little. Not relief. Management.Mara stayed close as we walked the line. We checked injuries first. There were fewer than I’d feared. A broken wrist. A thigh torn by shrapnel. A man with blood freezing into his beard where an arrow had grazed his jaw.He grinned when he saw me.“Missed,” he said.“You leaned,” I repl

  • Game of hearts: The Ruthless Alpha and his warrior bride    Chapter 191

    CelesteMorning didn’t arrive all at once.It crept in. Quiet. Careful. Like it knew better than to startle anyone who’d survived the night.The dark loosened its hold slowly, shadows thinning, the ridge coming back into focus in pieces — stone first, then snow, then the familiar lines I’d memorized by heart. I was still standing where I’d ended the night, legs stiff, shoulders burning in that dull way pain settles into when it’s been ignored too long.Snow clung to my cloak. My gloves were damp. I hadn’t slept.Not even a little.Strangely, that made everything clearer.Below us, the enemy camp felt… restrained.That was the first thing that set my nerves humming. Fewer fires. Less movement. No frantic shouting, no exaggerated drills meant to intimidate us awake. Men stood in small groups, talking low. Officers walked instead of barked orders.They were thinking.So were we.Mara came up beside me, her steps light despite the ice. Her face was drawn tight with exhaustion, but her spi

  • Game of hearts: The Ruthless Alpha and his warrior bride    Chapter 190

    Celeste Night did not end so much as loosen its grip. The darkness thinned in layers, retreating from the ridge inch by inch as the sky shifted from black to slate. Clouds still clung low, but there was a sense of movement now, a subtle stirring, like the world stretching before pain returned. I hadn’t slept. Not properly. Not at all, if truth mattered. I’d closed my eyes once, leaning against the stone outcrop that marked the ridge’s highest point, but the moment my breathing slowed, my mind surged forward again, counting supplies, tracing enemy lanes, replaying the sound of shields striking snow-packed ground. Endurance didn’t come from rest. It came from refusal. Below us, the enemy camp woke early. Fires were banked rather than extinguished, embers coaxed back to life with careful hands. Men moved between trenches and half-built frames, passing tools, carrying timber, reinforcing the low snow walls they’d shaped the day before. No panic. No rush. Confidence looked a lot

  • Game of hearts: The Ruthless Alpha and his warrior bride    çhapter 189

    CelesteThe east flank answered first.Not with sound, but with motion — a ripple through the snow as enemy shields broke from the tree line in a staggered rush. They came faster there, lighter equipment, fewer mantlets. Climbers. Men trained for bad ground.“Fast units,” Mara said, already moving. “They’re trying to get above us.”“They won’t,” I replied. “Not today.”I ran along the ridge line, boots biting into packed snow, shouting orders as I passed. Shields locked. Spears angled downward. Archers reassigning without being told. They’d learned this terrain the hard way.Below, the flanking force pushed hard, slipping between rocks and trees, using the uneven slope to mask their numbers. No rams. No cover. Speed and momentum.A gamble.“Hold until they crest!” I called. “Do not meet them halfway!”Arrows hissed down, forcing them to raise shields, slowing their climb. Not enough to stop them — just enough to disrupt their rhythm. Men stumbled. Cursed. Regained footing.Then the fi

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