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Chapter 9
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The Stand-In Queen Chapter 10
A spark of relief lit inside me. The time I had bought had finally paid off."Pack Enforcers! Traitors and outlaws—drop your blades and submit!"Torchlight flared. Elite warriors in silver mail poured from every direction, sealing the forest tight.The assassins fell into chaos. Some tried to flee, but the trained Enforcers cut them off and herded them into pockets, leaving no escape.The chief saw his doom. His eyes turned savage. Abandoning all caution, he lunged at me, his blade slicing straight for my face.He knew he wouldn’t escape today. He meant to take me with him."Ayla, watch out!"Kael shouted in terror, ignoring his wounds to rush toward me.But I was faster.The image of my foster mother clutching the bread. The faint cry of my lost child. The countless nights I woke from nightmares, gasping.All my grief and hatred crystallized into strength.I sidestepped the blade. Knife sank intothe chief’s chest.Warm blood sprayed across my cheek.His eyes widened. His mouth opened.
The Stand-In Queen Chapter 9
The wind itself seemed to stop.Everyone stared at me in shock, disbelief filling their eyes.“H-how can it be you?!” Elara’s voice shook.Kael stared at me, the wound on his arm forgotten.“Ayla, what is…”I met his gaze and slowly drew something from the hidden pocket inside my sleeve.A token, half the size of my palm, its edges worn smooth, carved with a clan sigil identical to the one hanging from the killer chief’s belt.“Recognize this?”My voice was barely audible.The killer chief’s face changed:“That… that’s…”“This is your token.”I cut him off, my fingertip tracing the rough carving.“Six years ago, in a cottage a hundred miles from the capital, on a freezing winter night, you broke into a home.”“An old woman sat under lamplight, mending old clothes. On her table was a bundle of fresh-baked bread and a small jar of plums she had pickled all autumn. She planned to send them to her child in the capital, the one she missed day and night.”My voice began to tremble, uncontrol
The Stand-In Queen Chapter 8
Elara wore white furs, no paint on her face, weeping beautifully as she knelt on the steps of the capital square, drawing a crowd of pack members.“Everyone, hear me!”Her voice was pitiful.“I only wanted to come home, to reunite with my parents. I meant no harm! But Ayla cannot tolerate me! She forced me to leave the territory, to abandon everything! She stole my fate, took my place for six years, and now that I’ve returned, she wants me dead!”She raised her tear-filled eyes, scanning the growing crowd, and her voice shot higher:“She is the imposter! Back then, she used tricks to bewitch Kael and take my place at the Bonding Ceremony! For six years she has occupied the Luna Queen’s throne, enjoying the glory that was mine, and now she wants to strip me of even a place to stand! Where is the justice in that?!”Her words were earnest, stirring, manipulative.The crowd began to whisper, looking toward the Pack Hall with sympathy for her and contempt for me, the “vicious sister.”Just
The Stand-In Queen Chapter 7
Kael stood in the yard, covered in road dust.His silver-grey wolf-pelt cloak was stiff with frost from the ride. He must have galloped through the night.His gaze passed over Lyra and locked onto me.“Ayla.” His voice was hoarse.I didn’t move. I only looked at him, as if he were a stranger.He walked into the courtyard.Lyra had already slipped away without a sound.“I’ve come to take you back.”He stopped a few paces from me. His eyes swept the bundle on the table, and a flicker of pain crossed his face.“Those things… they’re not bargaining chips. They’re what you deserve.”“Kael,” I said softly, “the Bond is already broken. What is there to take back?”He stepped closer, urgent.“Ayla, everything Elara wrote was a lie. I never called you a stopgap. That night I went to her, your parents begged me. They said she was emotionally unraveling, that she might do something reckless. I spent the entire night in the hall with them, trying to make her accept reality. I never crossed any lin
The Stand-In Queen Chapter 6
We settled in a cottage by the water, in a relay town on the edge of the capital.Lyra arrived a few days later than me. She had urgent family matters.The day she pushed through the door, she was carrying a massive bundle in her arms, her face bright with barely contained excitement.“Miss!”She placed the bundle carefully on the table, her eyes shining.“Guess what? Those foul-mouthed women who blocked us at the capital gates? They got what was coming to them!”I had been trimming a pot of wild herbs by the window. My hands stilled.“I heard their tongues were pulled out.”Lyra leaned closer. “The King gave the order himself.”I didn’t answer. I only gathered the cut leaves into a clay bowl.Lyra studied my expression carefully. “And…”“Say it all. Now.”Lyra spoke faster:“The King had Miss Elara moved out of the Pack Hall. She’s in a western estate now, half a territory away. He told everyone outside that he and Miss Elara only met a few times, and there was nothing between them.”
The Stand-In Queen Chapter 5
I stopped in my tracks and turned to the maid,“what was wrong.”Her eyes were red, her voice thick. “Miss, someone spread rumors in the capital. They say the woman the King has loved since youth has returned… and that he will sever the Bond to marry her.”“Now… the whole capital is talking about you being cast aside. The words are unspeakable…”My chest felt struck by a blunt weight, a dull, suffocating pain.At that moment, I realized I had forgotten my provisions. I had to return to the capital.I covered my face with a veil and re-entered the city with the maid.While waiting at the grain shop, my gaze drifted to the other end of the street.The Pack Hall gates stood silent, but in the luxury boutique next door, two figures moved. Too familiar.Kael stood at the counter. Elara beside him.He picked up a wolf-tooth pendant, paused, and paid for it, tucking it carefully into his sleeve.Elara leaned against him, asking sweetly for a moonstone bracelet. He agreed.They stood there lik
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