로그인Prince Luca's POV"Lyra." Her name tore out of me before I'd even consciously decided to speak, and I was already urging my horse down the slope before Leo's hand closed hard around my reins, hauling me back."Wait," he snapped. "Look at the formation down there, Luca. If we charge in blind, we hand them exactly the chaos they want, and we lose whatever advantage surprise might still give us."Every instinct in my body screamed to ignore him, to simply ride straight through whatever stood between me and her, but I forced myself to pause, scanning the battlefield below with the kind of cold, tactical focus Leo had always been better at than me.The Shadowbound creatures had formed a tight ring around Lyra, clearly under orders to contain rather than kill, which meant someone still wanted her alive, still wanted whatever knowledge or power they believed she carried. Beyond that ring, Villeron's defenders fought a separate, desperate battle against the organized soldiers Elara had warned
Prince Luca's POVThe courtyard spun around me for one terrible, disorienting moment, Elara's words landing like a physical blow I hadn't braced for. "Under attack," I repeated, my voice barely steady. "Right now?""I saw the fires from the ridge road," Elara said, her hands shaking as she clutched my arm for support, still catching her breath from the hard ride. "I didn't dare get closer alone, so I turned back for reinforcements, but Luca, it's bad. Worse than the first time."Leo's face had gone bone white beside me. "Tobias Vale's creatures?""And more," Elara said. "I saw banners I didn't recognize. Organized soldiers, not simply the Shadowbound. Someone's committed real resources to this attack, not just a scouting raid."My mind raced through every possibility, every connection, and landed on the single thread that made horrible, undeniable sense. "The council session," I said slowly. "Two hours of formal procedure, my father's deliberate delay in granting the investigation, ev
Prince Luca's POVFor a long moment, my father said nothing at all, his expression carved from granite, and the silence stretched taut enough that I could hear my own heartbeat hammering against my ribs.Finally, one of the elder council members, an aging wolf named Councilor Brennar who had served three generations of my family, cleared his throat and spoke into the tension. "The challenge clause, if properly invoked, requires formal acknowledgment before this council, Your Majesty. The prince has stated his grounds. By law, we are obligated to at least consider them."My father's jaw tightened visibly. "The clause requires demonstrable evidence of an existing bond, Councilor. Not simply a prince's wounded feelings over a girl who has, by every credible account, already chosen another man entirely."My father thought I am talking from emotions without knowing I get my facts right before i spill. “I have evidence," I said, before the councilor could respond. "A vision, shared through
Prince Luca’s PovThe handwriting was elegant, unfamiliar, pressed into the parchment with a confidence that suggested whoever wrote it had never once doubted the words would reach exactly the hands they were intended for.Prince Luca,I write to you with information I suspect your father's council will take great pains to keep from you today. Lyra Ashwood was drugged, assaulted, and nearly bound against her will to a man she had every right to never see again. Her own family orchestrated the circumstances. The photograph currently circulating through your court was manufactured specifically to destroy any claim you might have to her, and to clear the path for your betrothal to proceed without obstacle.I do not expect you to trust this letter blindly. I have given you no reason to trust anything I say. But I would ask you to consider the timing of your father's sudden urgency, the convenient appearance of the photograph precisely when it would do the most damage, and the fact that th
Prince Luca’s PovMy father turned and strode away without waiting for a response, his guards falling into step behind him, and I stood in the empty corridor with Leo, fury and helplessness warring viciously in my chest."What does he mean, my future," I said once the sound of their footsteps had faded entirely.Leo's expression had gone grim. "I think you already know."I did. The realization settled over me cold and absolute. A formal betrothal announcement. A marriage arranged for political convenience rather than any bond the Moon Goddess herself had sanctioned. Wendy's earlier comments in the corridor suddenly carried far more weight than I'd given them credit for at the time."He's going to try to force the issue," I said."Probably," Leo agreed. "Which means tomorrow's council session isn't something you can simply skip, Luca. Not without handing him every justification he needs to declare you unfit, or worse, to move against Lyra's family directly as punishment for your defian
Prince Luca's POVI rode back to the palace in silence, blood drying stiff along my forearm, Tobias Vale's words repeating themselves over and over in my head until I could barely think past them. The photograph was forged. The danger was real. And I had spent the entire morning allowing both my father's politics and a manufactured distraction to keep me from doing anything at all to help her.Leo met me at the stables, his expression shifting from relief to alarm the moment he saw the state of me. "What happened?""Tobias Vale happened," I said, dismounting stiffly. "He staged an attack on the eastern border. A distraction, he admitted it himself, to keep me occupied while something worse happens to Lyra."Leo's face paled. "Then the photograph…..”"Was forged. He confirmed that too." I scrubbed a hand through my hair, frustration and fear tangling together until I could barely separate one from the other. "I need proof, Leo. Something real, something I can use to justify going to Vi







