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Chapter 28
publish date:
2026-07-24 19:55:26
Latest chapter
The Rogue Queen's Rise Chapter 33
Cole's father invites us to stay the night, which surprises all of us more than the invitation itself probably should, given how carefully he's tried to signal a different kind of household than the one Cole remembers."You don't have to decide anything tonight," he tells Cole, and there's something almost pleading underneath the careful composure, a father trying, visibly, not to push in the exact way that drove his son away in the first place. "Stay. Eat something that isn't camp food. Let your people rest properly before whatever you decide to do next."Cole looks to the three of us, an unspoken question, and I find myself nodding before Sarah or Nadia can answer, some instinct telling me this matters more than exhaustion or caution tonight.The room they give us is larger than anything at the garage, comfortable in a way that feels almost strange after months of cots and shared space, and Sarah takes one look at it before setting her pack down with a w
The Rogue Queen's Rise Chapter 32
Ashwood territory announces itself before we ever cross into it, the trees changing character somehow, more manicured, more deliberate, the whole landscape carrying the particular order of a place that's been shaped by someone who values control."It always looked like this," Cole says, noticing me notice. "Even as a kid I thought it was strange, how tidy everything was. Like the whole territory was holding its breath, waiting to be inspected."Sarah walks a half-step ahead of the rest of us without seeming to notice she's doing it, old instinct putting her between Cole and whatever's coming even here, this far from any danger we can actually name. Nadia's quieter than usual, taking in the landscape with the particular attention of someone cataloging exits without meaning to.We're stopped at the border within the hour, not aggressively, but efficiently, two guards falling into step around us with the particular practiced neutrality of men who've been told exactly how to handle an une
The Rogue Queen's Rise Chapter 31
We leave at first light, the four of us, packs light but thorough, the whole rest of the pack gathered at the bay door to see us off like it's a departure that matters more than the ordinary comings and goings this garage has grown used to. Piper hugs me first, unexpectedly fierce for someone who used to flinch at unexpected touch, and Theo and Marsh both offer the same gruff, affectionate nod they give each other before any risk, like they've folded me into whatever silent language brothers use to say things they don't have words for. Marcus kisses my forehead before I go, careful, asking permission with the gesture the way he's learned to ask permission for everything now, and I let him, surprising myself a little with how natural it feels. "Be careful," he says. "Not for my sake. For yours. For the baby's." "I will." "I mean it, Ava. If anything feels wrong, anything at all, you turn back, no matter how far you've gotten or how close you are. Promise me that much." "I promise
The Rogue Queen's Rise Chapter 30
Cole tells us his decision three days later, over breakfast, in the same plain voice he's learned to use for things that matter.The three days since the letter arrived have passed in a strange kind of suspended waiting, the whole pack moving through ordinary routines while everyone privately braced for whatever Cole decided. I've caught myself watching him more closely than usual during training, during meals, during the quiet moments when he thought nobody was paying attention — turning his mother's ring over, staring at nothing in particular, working through something none of us could do for him no matter how much we wanted to help carry it."I'm going," he says. "To Ashwood. I want to hear whatever he has to say, in person, where I can watch his face while he says it instead of just reading his handwriting and guessing.""When?" I ask."As soon as it can be arranged. I don't think waiting makes it easier. I think it just gives me more time to talk myself out of it."Renata sets do
The Rogue Queen's Rise Chapter 29
The letter that arrives eight days later isn't addressed to Ava, or to Marcus, or even to Renata.It's addressed to Colton.Eight days of ordinary quiet have settled over the garage since Wells told the whole pack her real name — eight days of dinners that run long with easy conversation, of training sessions that feel more like ritual than preparation, of Marcus and me finding, slowly, a rhythm that doesn't demand we name what it is yet. It's the kind of stretch of peace I've learned, by now, not to fully trust, though I've also learned not to waste it bracing for whatever comes next instead of simply living inside it while it lasts.Nobody uses that name here except when Cole chooses to offer it himself, which makes the sight of it, formal and precise on the envelope's front, land in the yard like a held breath nobody quite lets out. The courier who delivers it won't say who sent him, only that he was paid well to make sure it reached "the Ashwood boy, w
The Rogue Queen's Rise Chapter 28
Wells finds me alone in the office two nights after Garrick's letter, the particular quiet that follows a long tension finally lifting settled over the whole garage like a held breath let out slowly instead of all at once. The past two days have had a strange, loose quality to them, the whole pack moving through ordinary tasks with none of the watchfulness that's shaped every day since Thornwood's enforcer first walked our fence line. Nadia's still running drills, but they've softened into something closer to exercise than preparation for imminent danger. Piper's stopped sleeping with her boots on. Even Theo and Marsh have started arguing about things that don't matter again — whose turn it is to cook, whether a particular engine part is salvageable — the ordinary bickering of people who've stopped bracing for the next blow. "I've been thinking about what you said," she says, "the night I told you Wells wasn't really mine. About earning things instead of just being handed them." "I
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