Mira’s POVI woke up slowly, stretching my limbs across Kai’s warm bedsheets, the early sunlight filtering through the tall windows casting faint gold across the room. My body still ached, not from pain, but from how thoroughly Kai had adored me the night before. He was still asleep beside me, his bare chest rising and falling with a slow rhythm. I smiled, brushing a strand of my hair out of my face and sitting up quietly so as not to wake him.But of course, I wasn’t lucky enough to slip out unnoticed.“You’re not sneaking away, are you?” Kai’s deep voice was husky from sleep, yet laced with amusement.I turned to find him watching me, a crooked grin stretching across his lips.“I have duties,” I replied with a smirk of my own. “Unlike some people who get to lie in bed all day and look pretty.”He chuckled. “I do more than look pretty. I’m also the reason half the rogues don’t dare touch our borders.”“Half,” I repeated playfully. “So the other half are scared of Damien’s experiment
Serena’s POVI waited, silent and still, in the shadows of the hallway. My cloak hid me well enough. I’d timed Jael’s movements perfectly — I knew she’d come through here after her shift. I held my breath as her footsteps echoed closer, glancing once more to make sure we were alone. The corridor remained empty, save for the dull flicker of torchlight along the stone walls.Finally, she arrived.She looked over her shoulder as she neared me, her steps cautious, her brows furrowed. I pulled back my hood just enough for her to recognize me. Her eyes widened.“I delivered it,” she whispered quickly, barely making a sound. “The guard was startled when I said it was from you. He almost dragged me to the captain.”I narrowed my eyes slightly, though I kept my expression controlled. “But he didn’t.”“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I had to talk him down. Convince him it was harmless.”“And did you?”She nodded once, then added, “He took it. I don’t know what he plans to do, but he has it.”
Mira’s POVHis arms were heavy, his movements sluggish, and his usual sharp glare was dulled by something… distant. I held him by the shoulders, my brows knitted in concern.“What’s wrong with you?” I asked, trying to search his eyes. “Are you hurt?”He didn’t answer immediately. His breath was uneven, and when he finally looked at me, his gaze was unfocused, like he was staring through me instead of at me.“I… I don’t know,” he muttered. “I feel… wrecked. Inside.”I guided him gently toward a bench nestled between two rose bushes. The air smelled faintly of night-blooming flowers, and I hoped the peace of the garden would help ease whatever storm he was drowning in.“Sit down. Talk to me.”He lowered himself, slowly, and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands gripping his head. I sat beside him, placing a hand on his back.“I’m losing my mind,” he said, voice raw. “I’ve always had a temper—you know that. But lately… it’s like something else takes over. Like I’m
Mira POV The moment I saw Serena standing in the doorway, I nearly lost it. Her posture was casual, almost smug, as though she belonged there—like she hadn’t been cast out in disgrace. I sat up, narrowing my eyes at her in disbelief.“What are you doing here again?” I demanded sharply, already feeling my blood begin to simmer.She didn’t answer me. She just stared, calm and unreadable, as if I were an afterthought.“Kai,” I called out, twisting slightly to look at him.He was already sitting up behind me, a scowl spreading across his face. “Serena,” he said, voice low with irritation. “You were told not to come near my chambers. What do you want?”“I need to speak with you,” she said, her voice light but persistent.I stood from the edge of the bed, pulling my robe tighter around myself. “You have no privilege walking into a King’s chamber,” I snapped. “Especially not after everything you’ve done. Guards!”She didn’t flinch. “It’s urgent,” she pressed, still speaking only to Kai, a
Kai POV I stepped out of the courtroom, running a hand through my hair as the large doors shut behind me with a dull thud. The meeting with the general had stretched far longer than I anticipated. Hours of reviewing blueprints, debating patrol patterns, and drawing possible infiltration routes on maps had left my head throbbing. The general had been meticulous as always—suggesting walls here, barriers there—but I needed more than just strong borders. I needed eyes and ears. I needed clarity.We had finally agreed on the strategy: checkpoints across the clan, stationed in such a way that no movement within our territory would go unnoticed. Every resident would be documented, every visitor tracked. I had ordered the captain to begin identifying and cataloguing the clansfolk. Some would protest, of course—they always did when things changed—but this was no longer about convenience. It was about survival.When I arrived at my chamber, Mira was already there, seated on the cushioned
Serena POVI waited silently in the narrow closet section of one of the maids’ chambers. The air was stuffy in here—smelled like soap and sweat, mixed with the faint perfume of dried roses. My back ached from crouching for so long, but I didn’t make a sound. I had done worse. Endured far more discomfort than this. And if this plan of mine was going to work, patience was essential.I had been slipping into the shadows of the castle these past few days, hunting like a snake in the tall grass, approaching a few of my former loyalists—maids, footmen, guards. One by one. And so far? Nothing.They turned their backs on me. Pretended they didn’t know me. And those that did recognize me… wouldn’t speak. It was as though Mira’s presence had erased all memory of the woman who once ruled as queen beside the Kings. Or maybe it was fear. Fear of what I might still be capable of. That was power. A different kind of power, but power nonetheless.The door creaked open.I tensed slightly in the c