LOGINMaya's POV The morning sun had barely sliced through the heavy velvet curtains of my chambers before I was out of bed. Whatever lingering guilt I had carried for Queen Selene’s death was officially dead and buried. I had spent days feeling secretly sorry for Valen Alaric, rationalizing his cruelty because he was a mourning husband who had lost his wife.What an absolute joke. What kind of grieving widow spends his nights buried deep inside concubines while his own daughter’s nervous system is systematically destroyed by incompetent healers? He was a hypocrite, a monster, and a tyrant.I despised him with every single fiber of my being, and I was entirely done waiting for his permission or his royal records to do my job. If I only had three months left to live with this ticking clock in my chest, I was going to make every single day count.I didn't care about Valen, I didn't care about the records, and I certainly didn't care about the fact that every single werewolf in this cast
Maya's POV Slowly, I turned back around. Honestly, I shouldn't have. Whatever shred of peace I still possessed died the second my eyes landed on that bed again. The dark-haired concubine wasn't beneath Valen anymore. At some point during my attempted escape, she'd ended up sprawled across the massive sheets with her back arched dramatically while soft gasps spilled from her lips. I couldn't even properly tell what was happening from this angle anymore. Was he touching her or was he inside her? My brain kept trying to understand the positioning against my will, which only made the heat crawling up my neck even worse.And somehow, it got more humiliating. The blonde woman had moved too. She was no longer kneeling between Valen’s thighs. Instead, she was straddling the dark-haired woman’s face while quiet moans filled the room in messy, breathless waves. What the hell was wrong with these people? The dark-haired woman's eyes fluttered open briefly, and then she looked directl
Maya's POV Green.Bright green eyes were the first thing I saw when my eyelids finally fluttered open.The second awareness returned, panic followed right behind it.My hand flew straight to my throat while a sharp gasp scraped against my bruised windpipe. Instantly, the memory slammed back into me with brutal clarity. The stone wall digging into my spine. Leather-gloved fingers crushing my neck. The terrifying pressure stealing the air from my lungs.“Whoa, easy there.”The voice was smooth, almost amused, and it only made me jerk back harder against the pillows.The man leaning over my bed straightened immediately, though the lazy smirk on his face never disappeared.Thick dark hair fell loosely across his forehead, and unlike everyone else I had encountered in this castle, he looked relaxed. Comfortable. Almost charming.That alone made me distrust him instantly.“I usually prefer a warmer reaction after rescuing a lady,” he continued casually, “but I’ll settle for the gasp.”As I
Valen’s POV“Absolutely not.”My voice cut across the bedroom just as a pink velvet gown went sailing through the air before landing dramatically over the horn of a carved wooden chair.Anastasia didn’t even blink.She stood knee-deep in silk and lace like a tiny empress preparing for battle. She kept ruthlessly tossing dresses over her shoulder while muttering to herself under her breath. The floor had disappeared beneath layers of expensive fabric. Judging by the destruction surrounding her, half the wardrobe staff would probably cry when they saw this room later.“I have to look pretty, Daddy!”She yanked out a pale blue gown before pressing it against herself proudly. Her silver eyes practically sparkled as she twirled toward me.“It’s my first official appointment with my new angel.”Her new... What? I stared at my daughter for a long moment. Then I pinched the bridge of my nose.“She is not an angel,” I said flatly. “Angels generally do not arrive covered in blood and handcuffs
Maya's POV "I'm alive. Oh my god, I’m actually alive."The words left my lips in a breathless whisper as I lay flat on my back, staring blankly at the heavy velvet drapes hanging from the four-poster bed. My hands were shaking so violently I had to press them hard against the mattress just to keep them steady. My mind was spinning, completely refusing to process the last twenty minutes.One second I was bound to a wooden post with a leather whip inches from my skin. The next, a little six-year-old girl was throwing herself in front of me, screaming at the Lycan King."Princess Anastasia..."She actually saved me. She looked right at that terrifying man—her father—and demanded my life because I didn't leave her in those dark tunnels.A bitter, broken laugh escaped my throat. It quickly turned into a ragged sob that I had to choke back down. A Lycan princess I met in the dirt protected me, but my own son hated me. It was entirely my fault for being too slow, too human, too late.And
The morning sun did not bring warmth. It only illuminated the cruelty of the courtyard.The guards bound me tightly to a massive wooden execution post. They pulled my arms taut above my head.The heavy ropes bit into my wrists, but that pain was nothing compared to the uneven thudding in my chest.My failing heart was giving out from terror alone.Before me stood the entire Lycan court. Their faces looked carved from stone. At the center, elevated on a high platform, sat King Valen.His golden eyes looked hollow, filled with deep, painful rage."For the murder of the Queen," the high executioner’s voice boomed across the silent courtyard, "the human outsider is sentenced to death by a thousand horse whips."The crowd caught its breath.Mine seized entirely.A thousand whips?I couldn't possibly survive something so slow and agonizing.For a human, it was a death sentence. My fragile body would tear apart long before the final strike.But none of that mattered to anyone.The executione
Maya's POV The stone floor of the underground prison was pure ice. The chill bled straight through my thin clothes and deep into my bones.For three long days, I had been locked in this pitch-black cell. Only heavy iron bars separated me from the execution block.My failing heart throbbed with a d
Maya's POVThe tears came in blinding, hot waves.They blocked my view of the road ahead until everything turned into a blur of grey asphalt and dark green pines.I gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turned white while a broken sob tore from my throat.*Fragile. Useless. An emba
Maya Hart's POV"I wish I had a new mummy! I want a new mummy! Someone who isn't weak and broken!"The anger in my seven-year-old son's voice hit me harder than any physical blow.Leo stood right in the center of the school courtyard, his small hands curled into tight fists. After he screamed those







