MasukShare
Chapter Eight
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2026-01-28 23:51:47There were no flowers. No music. No vows.
Just paper.
Three sheets of parchment, thick and cream-colored, laid out on the long, carved table in the Valtoris study. The ink smelled sharp. The quill had already been dipped.
Xavier stood at one end of the table, hands clenched behind his back. His stomach twisted like it had been wrung out.
This was it.
This was the moment.
Not an altar. Not a kiss. Just signatures. A legal joining, witnessed and recorded. An heir claiming what had been chosen for him.
Elara sat across from him, spine straight, hands folded in her lap, eyes fixed on the table. She wore pale ivory, no veil. Her hair had been braided again, tightly, pulled back to expose the shape of her jaw. She looked like something breakable. Not fragile—but tightly wound, like glass just before the fracture.
Xavier could feel the weight of the room pressing on the back of his neck.
His father stood behind him. Gregor, his grandfather, was seated in the far corner like a statue. Two uncles lingered near the fireplace. Silent. Watching. Always watching.
The scribe cleared his throat.
“You may begin.”
Xavier stepped forward.
His legs didn’t want to move. He felt like he was walking into water. Thick, dark water that dragged at his knees.
He picked up the quill.
His hand shook.
Just slightly.
He forced it still.
First name. Family name. Pack bloodline.
He signed.
The ink bled slowly into the parchment, permanent and irrevocable.
Then he stepped back.
The scribe nodded. “And now the bride.”
Elara rose.
She moved with the same perfection she always did—smooth, controlled, obedient. Her hands didn’t shake. Her face didn’t change. She stepped forward, took the quill, signed in delicate, practiced letters, and set it down.
Then she stepped back.
That was it.
The scribe turned the documents toward Theron and Gregor for witness signatures. The men signed in silence, one after the other.
Then the final page—the Valtoris family registry.
Old as the bloodline itself.
Bound in cracked leather, pages yellowed with age. Generations of names recorded in the same hand. Marriages. Births. Deaths.
Xavier opened it slowly, the creak of the binding too loud in the silent room.
There was a space left for him. His name had already been written in elegant calligraphy.
All that remained was the date.
And Elara’s.
He filled them in.
The ink trembled at the end of her name.
He didn’t look at her.
Couldn’t.
The scribe closed the book and gave a small bow.
“It is done.”
That was the moment he was supposed to turn to her.
Touch her.
A hand to the shoulder. A brush of fingers against hers. Something that signaled possession, or unity, or whatever hollow gesture passed for affection in this house.
But Xavier didn’t move.
His body refused.
He stood there, stomach churning, hands still behind his back like he was bracing for something he couldn’t name.
“She is yours now,” Theron said quietly, behind him.
Xavier didn’t answer.
Elara didn’t flinch.
“Escort your wife upstairs.”
It wasn’t a suggestion.
Xavier nodded, stiffly. Turned.
He caught her eyes for a single second.
They were blank.
Not afraid. Not pleading. Just… absent.
Like she’d already gone somewhere far away.
He didn’t offer her his hand.
He just walked toward the door, and she followed.
No words. No celebration.
Just footsteps echoing down the hall like the ticking of a slow, inevitable clock.
Bab terbaru
Stars over Silver Pines Chapter Eight
There were no flowers. No music. No vows.Just paper.Three sheets of parchment, thick and cream-colored, laid out on the long, carved table in the Valtoris study. The ink smelled sharp. The quill had already been dipped.Xavier stood at one end of the table, hands clenched behind his back. His stomach twisted like it had been wrung out.This was it.This was the moment.Not an altar. Not a kiss. Just signatures. A legal joining, witnessed and recorded. An heir claiming what had been chosen for him.Elara sat across from him, spine straight, hands folded in her lap, eyes fixed on the table. She wore pale ivory, no veil. Her hair had been braided again, tightly, pulled back to expose the shape of her jaw. She looked like something breakable. Not fragile—but tightly wound, like glass just before the fracture.Xavier could feel the weight of the room pressing on the back of his neck.His father stood behind him. Gregor, his grandfather, was seated in the far corner like a statue. Two unc
Stars over Silver Pines Chapter Seven
The car slowed as the trees thickened.Elara sat upright in the back seat, hands folded over her knees, posture perfect despite the fatigue crawling along her spine. Her mother had reminded her: First impressions matter most. So she did not slouch. Did not look out the window like a child. Did not fidget.She stared straight ahead.The iron gates loomed up like jaws, black and ancient, set into stone pillars veined with moss. The driver didn’t speak. Just pressed a button. The gates groaned open, reluctantly, like something old and angry was being disturbed.Beyond them, the road narrowed. Trees arched overhead, knotted branches forming a tangled ceiling that blotted out much of the sunlight. The mansion appeared slowly—first its roofline, then the high spires and gargoyle-tipped corners.It looked like something out of a forgotten century.Elara didn’t let her expression change. But her hands had started to sweat.The car curved around the final bend, gravel crackling beneath the tir
Stars over Silver Pines Chapter Six
Xavier hadn’t touched a woman in his life.Not once.Not even in secret, in some hidden corner of the estate, like his cousins bragged about after dark. He’d never flirted with a maid. Never stolen a kiss behind a locked door. Never lingered in a hallway for the brush of a hand or the scent of perfume.He hadn’t wanted to.Or maybe he had—but the want was always crushed beneath something larger: the weight of expectation. The shadow of what came after the kiss.In the Valtoris house, intimacy wasn’t affection. It was possession. It was taking, breaking, and branding. And Xavier had never been able to reconcile the two.He stood at the edge of the west balcony now, staring out over the treetops as the sun sank behind the forest. The wind tugged at his collar. The air smelled like pine, stone, and inevitability.She was coming.Elara.Tomorrow.He should’ve been ready. He was the heir. The example. The one who never raised his voice or dropped his gaze or missed a step in the dance of p
Stars over Silver Pines Chapter Five
The car was already waiting in the driveway.Sleek, dark, and quiet—its engine a low purr, like a predator at rest. Elara had never ridden in anything like it. Her father called it a courtesy—“the least the Valtoris could do.” She suspected it was more of a message: We’re watching now. She belongs to us.Elara stood on the front steps, dressed in pale blue. The gown was simple, elegant, pressed within an inch of its life. She had spent the morning being combed, powdered, scented, and rehearsed like a product being inspected before shipping. There was nothing personal left on her—not the hairpins she liked, not the bracelet she used to wear when she was alone.She had left her childhood room with a single suitcase. The rest would be sent ahead.It was better this way. Cleaner.“Stand straighter,” her father said from beside her, his voice a sharp whisper. “You’re not a burden. You’re a gift. Act like one.”She obeyed instantly, tilting her chin just slightly upward, eyes lowered. Her m
Stars over Silver Pines Chapter Four
Xavier hadn’t planned on asking.He had spent the entire evening telling himself not to. Reminding himself it would raise suspicion, stir tension, open doors best left shut. But by morning, the thought still hadn’t left him, and that was enough to make him act.It wasn’t about curiosity.It was about certainty.He wanted to know if she—Elara—was all right. He didn’t expect her to be happy, or prepared, or even willing. He just needed to know if there was anything left in her. If the silence he’d seen in her eyes was something real… or something reversible.But asking for contact details? That was a line no Valtoris heir had crossed before.He found his father in the east study, as always—early, rigid, already dressed in one of his immaculate three-piece suits despite the hour. The fireplace was lit. The curtains were drawn. The bookshelves loomed like stone around them.“Speak,” Theron said without looking up from the morning reports.Xavier hesitated, then stepped forward. “I’d like
Stars over Silver Pines Chapter Three
By the third lesson, Elara had stopped pretending to understand the diagrams.They were detailed—beautiful, even, in that distant, medical way: precise renderings of anatomy drawn in delicate pencil, labeled with looping script. Her mother laid them out on the table like they were precious heirlooms passed down through generations. There were dozens of them. Pages showing womb positions, ovulation charts, illustrations of the most “favorable” positions for conception.She was supposed to memorize them all.By the fifth lesson, she did.“Arch your back,” her mother said calmly, one gloved finger tapping a sketch of a faceless woman folded beneath her husband. “That allows for deeper penetration. Increases the chances.”Elara nodded. She had long learned not to ask questions.The room smelled like lavender and ink and sweat. The fire crackled in the hearth, trying and failing to bring warmth to the space. Two of the senior maids stood to the side, silent as shadows, their faces unreadab
Anda juga akan menyukai
Iridian
Jane Doe900.0K DibacaSinful Temptation
KATHLEEN HAYAT474.3K DibacaMy Secret, My Bully, My Mates. Series
Miss L2.6M DibacaAlpha's Second Chance
Salani904.8K DibacaRejected Mate Of The Obsessive Alpha
Eliora Quinn 123 DibacaThe Alpha And The Baker
Roxie418 DibacaThe Luna’s Revenge
Eboh178 DibacaDaddy’s Best Friend: My Alpha Mate
Silver Moon462 Dibaca
