MasukXAVIER
The council chamber was behind me, but the echoes of their voices refused to stay there. Every accusation followed me through the corridors of of the dark hallway like a shadow that had finally found its owner.Those meddling old men called me reckless, compromised and unworthy of leading my very own pack. Some of them believed I had abandoned my throne for a woman, while others believed the mate bond had finally driven me mad.None of them understood the tARIAI woke up to silk again, and by now I was beginning to hate the sound of my own thoughts whenever I opened my eyes in this room. Vin was already awake, and unlike me, she had no interest in pretending everything was fine. She whispered." Someone is coming."I barely had time to sit up before there was a knock on the door, followed by the familiar voices of servants asking permission to enter. Three servants entered with trays of food, followed by two women carrying folded clothes.“For the Luna,” the older woman said with a polite smile.I stared at her and she stared back while Vin made a low sound inside my chest.I rubbed my tired eyes. “I have told you people that I am not your Luna. How many times do I have to say it before someone finally decides to listen?”The woman lowered her head slightly. “Forgive me, ma’am, but those are the instructions we received.”“Then take the instructions back to whoever gave them to you and tell him I am not wearing anything he sends me.”Th
XAVIERHer fingers had barely reached the edge of my cloak when I caught the fabric and held it between us, stopping her before she could pull it away. “Leave it,” I said quietly, watching the confusion settle across her face as her brows drew together.“I don't need it,” she argued, looking from the cloak to me.“I know you don't need it, but you're cold, and I'm not going to stand here and watch you pretend otherwise.”She was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, and the fabric gathered softly around her waist and hips, following the curves she had spent years trying to make smaller because people had convinced her they were something shameful. I looked at her now and couldn't understand how I had ever allowed their voices to become louder than my own eyes.The fullness of her arms, the gentle curve of her waist, the softness around her hips and thighs were not imperfections I needed to overlook. They were simply par
XAVIERThe council chamber was behind me, but the echoes of their voices refused to stay there. Every accusation followed me through the corridors of of the dark hallway like a shadow that had finally found its owner. Those meddling old men called me reckless, compromised and unworthy of leading my very own pack. Some of them believed I had abandoned my throne for a woman, while others believed the mate bond had finally driven me mad. None of them understood the truth, that I had not chosen Aria over my kingdom bur I had chosen the truth over the lie I had been living for the past five years.Sky walked quietly beside me inside my mind, unusually silent after everything that had happened. He had fought the council with me, growled at every insult they threw at our mate and resisted every instinct urging him to silence anyone who dared call her unworthy. For a wolf who never knew when to keep his mouth shut, his silence now felt almost unsettling
XAVIERThe chamber dissolved into noise.I only tapped lightly on my desk as I watched their arguments until it became impossible to separate accusation from outrage. Some elders rose to their feet, others pounded their fists against the long oak table, while the nobles argued among themselves as though my mate's future had become nothing more than another matter to be settled through politics. They spoke about alliances, trade routes, military strength and public opinion, yet not a single person in that room spoke about Aria herself. She had become a bargaining chip in their mouths, reduced to numbers and negotiations, and I realized with a dull ache that I had once been guilty of the very same thing.Sky paced restlessly inside me. "Listen to them, he growled. They still speak about her as though she isn't a person. Five years have passed, and they have learned nothing."Neither had I, until it was almost too late.Elder Marek
XAVIERThe healers told me to remain in bed until my wounds closed completely, but they knew nothing at all.They spoke with the confidence of men who believed rest could undo five years of self-inflicted damage, but they had no idea what five years of denying a mate bond truly cost. Funny how my body was paying for every choice I had made since I was sixteen, and there wasn't a remedy in Blackwood capable of curing regret.My wolf, Sky, was no kinder."You deserve every bit of it," he growled from the back of my mind, his voice carrying neither sympathy nor pity. You silenced me when I told you she was ours, and now you wonder why your bones feel like they're breaking apart. Consider this your lesson.I didn't argue with him because there was nothing left to defend. If I had listened to him five years ago instead of the Council, Aria would never have spent those years believing she was unwanted. She would never have married another man,
ARIAI stood in the middle of the room for another minute, wondering whether pacing would count as exercise or just another symptom of slowly losing my mind."I vote pacing," I muttered.Nobody answered.I looked inward, expecting Vin to make one of her dramatic comments about how I was wearing a hole into the expensive floor.She was actually asleep. I frowned. "Vin?"Silence.That wasn't normal.She slept a lot, yes, but never this deeply. Usually, the moment I called her name, she would wake up just to complain that I had interrupted her beauty sleep.I sighed quietly. "Traitor."Apparently, she had abandoned me to deal with Blackwood on my own.Wonderful.I wandered toward one of the bookshelves, running my fingers across rows of neatly arranged books. Every single one looked untouched, as though they had been placed there because wealthy people believed every room should







