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Chapter 4
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The Gate He Closed Became My Crown Chapter 10
A week later, the healers allowed me to leave the palace healing wing.The wound across my back still hurt, but the child was safe. Theo checked every morning anyway, pressing his ear to my stomach until he felt movement before he would let anyone near me.Caelan had gone to sign the final Dragon Court orders, so I was alone when the guards brought Marcus in.He no longer looked like Lord Blackthorn. His face was bruised, his coat torn, and the clan ring had been stripped from his hand. In his palm lay a small diamond ring I recognized at once.I had carved its setting when I was fifteen, back when I still believed I would marry him.Marcus placed it on the table beside my bed.“Sienna,” he said, voice rough, “I still love you.”“No. You love what I became after I left you. You love the throne beside Caelan. You love the power you lost.”His face tightened.“I have regretted it every day since you walked out of the temple.”“You regretted losing. That is not the same thing.”The guards
The Gate He Closed Became My Crown Chapter 9
Theo stepped out from behind me before I could stop him.He was still small, but Frost Dragon light had already begun to gather in his ice-blue eyes.“Do not talk about my mother like she belongs to you.”Marcus stared at him.Theo stood beside Caelan, trying not to tremble.“You hurt her. Father would never do that.”Marcus’s face flushed with humiliation.Clara broke first.Marcus had called her son a tool in front of the entire court. Now Caelan’s heir stood there defending me, and no one dared laugh.Her gaze fixed on Theo.“You little—”Dark claws burst from her hands before the royal guards could tighten their hold. Scales crawled over her wrists, jagged and gray, forced out by panic and rage.“I will kill you!”Caelan moved, but I was closer.I pulled Theo into my arms and turned my body over his. Clara’s claws tore across my back, ripping through fabric, skin, and the protection spell woven into my gown.Pain blinded me.Theo screamed.Caelan’s roar shook the hall.The force of
The Gate He Closed Became My Crown Chapter 8
Marcus’s attempt at dignity lasted only as long as Caelan allowed it.“A misunderstanding,” Caelan repeated.Frost still clung to the floor around his boots. The broken ruby lay near my feet, each fragment bright against the marble.Marcus swallowed.“Sienna and I were once promised to each other,” he said. “We were fated mates. The bond was never properly released.”He turned to me with a look I had once mistaken for tenderness.“Sienna, tell them. We were together for seven years. Whatever happened between us, the bond was real.”“The promise was real,” I said. “Until you broke it.”“You were angry. You left before we could speak properly.”“You let go of my hand at the altar and chose another woman in front of every noble house sworn to Blackthorn.”Clara’s fingers curled into her skirt, but Marcus no longer looked at her.“I made a political choice,” he said quickly. “Clara’s bloodline could secure my lordship. You knew what Blackthorn needed.”“What Blackthorn needed was honor.”C
The Gate He Closed Became My Crown Chapter 7
Caelan’s words left Clara shaking where she stood, the broken ring lying between us with frost spreading over its metal.I rose with Caelan’s help, one hand still protecting my stomach. The child shifted faintly beneath my palm, and through the bond Caelan felt my fear before I could hide it.“We are safe,” I said.His gaze moved from me to the hall.“Who else?”The question was quiet, but everyone who had laughed at the gate seemed to hear judgment in it.I pointed to Marcus first, then Clara, then the men who had mocked me outside the city gates and the noblewomen who had smiled behind their fans while I was called a thief and a stray. Some lowered their heads before my hand reached them. Others tried to hide behind relatives with higher titles.Their faces showed no remorse, only panic at having chosen the wrong woman to harm.A woman in a gold gown stepped out before the silence could settle. She was beautiful, richly dressed, and foolish enough to believe beauty still mattered.“Y
The Gate He Closed Became My Crown Chapter 6
Caelan Frost stood at the entrance of the hall.He wore formal black trimmed in silver, the Frost Dragon crest embroidered across his chest. In his arms was a little boy with the same ice-blue eyes, one hand hooked around his father’s collar as he studied the room.Every lord in the hall bowed at once.It was instinct. Caelan’s power rolled through the room like winter breaking over the mountains, forcing heads down and knees weak. Even the stronger dragon lords lowered their eyes.Clara was the first to move.She arranged her face into a smile and hurried toward him, still clutching the broken band of the ring.“Your Majesty, forgive the disturbance. We caught a thief near the royal dais. This woman stole the Dragon Queen’s ring and tried to pass herself off as your mate.”She turned slightly, pointing toward me as if presenting proof of her loyalty.“I stopped her before she could disgrace the throne.”The little boy in Caelan’s arms went still.His bright eyes found me on the floor,
The Gate He Closed Became My Crown Chapter 5
Then Clara stepped forward, her smile stretched too tight.“Your seat?”She looked from me to the queen’s throne, then back to the crowd, inviting them to share her disbelief.“Sienna, there are lies, and then there is treason. You should know the difference.”I raised my left hand.The ruby ring caught the light above the dais, and the Frost Dragon crest along the band flashed silver-blue.“Look carefully.”An old dragon lord standing beside the second table narrowed his eyes. His expression changed first, suspicion draining into shock.“That crest,” he said quietly. “It is not a court copy.”Another lord leaned closer, then drew back as if the ring itself had burned him.“That is His Majesty’s private mark.”Unease spread faster than the earlier laughter. Clara’s face went pale for one breath before rage covered it.“No,” she snapped. “Do not be stupid. She stole it.”The accusation gave the room something easier to believe.“She must have stolen the Dragon Queen’s ring,” Clara said
