Semua Bab The Mate Games: Bab 101 - Bab 110

ALTHEA“Attention everyone!”Theo’s voice cuts through the chaos like a blade. The room stills, conversations dying mid-sentence as dozens of heads swivel toward the raised platform. The makeshift headquarters, an old, abandoned theater hidden beneath the city, is packed tonight. Bodies line every wall, the air thick with tension, sweat, and the unmistakable scent of anticipation.Theo stands under the cracked spotlight, tall and commanding. His face is grim, but his voice is steady.“Well,” he begins, glancing around, “I’ve got good news and bad news.”A few nervous chuckles ripple through the room. The tension is too high for laughter to last long.“I’ll start with the good news.” He pauses, letting the silence stretch just long enough to catch everyone’s attention. “Thanks to the great work of one of us, we’ve managed to get the key to the archive room in the palace. The one where they’ve kept the books we need. The real ones.”Murmurs break out instantly. The kind that hum with su

ALTHEAI didn’t sleep last night.I didn’t even dare close my eyes.I sat at the edge of the bed, knees pulled up to my chest, arms wrapped tight around them, and stared at the wall until the shadows began to fade and pale light crept into the room. My chest feels too tight, my skin too hot. I should feel better—safer—after Theo promised me Asher would remain unharmed. But deep down, something twists in my gut. Something raw and uncertain.Maybe because deep down, I don’t know if I believe him.I paced for hours. Back and forth across the rug until it was crumpled and wrinkled beneath my feet. Over and over again, I debated going to Asher’s door. Just once. Just to warn him. To beg him not to go through with it.To tell him I still care.But I didn’t.Because that would make this real.Because if I saw him again, I wouldn’t be able to go through with today.Today… the day he becomes king.And the same day he is overthrown.A soft knock comes just after dawn. I barely hear it at first

ALTHEAEverywhere is chaos.Screams tear through the air, sharp and panicked. Dust and smoke swirl around me, making it hard to breathe, harder to think. The ground shakes beneath my feet. I can barely hear anything over the pounding of blood in my ears.This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.We were in control. We had the element of surprise. We did everything right, took down the guards, held the arena in our hands.But now—Now it’s all falling apart.I shove past two of our men as another set of explosions echoes somewhere behind us. The heat from the blast pushes against my back, flames flickering at the edge of my vision. My heart is beating too fast. My hands are slick with sweat. I can still hear the sickening sound of bones breaking, of men screaming, of something inhuman roaring.I glance toward the center of the arena.And I freeze.They’ve all frozen.Every revolutionary, every soldier, every bystander, they’ve all stopped moving. Every eye locked in the same direction.At

ALTHEAThe abandoned pack house still smells like rot and dust, no matter how much we scrub.We’ve been here for over a week now. Hidden. Healing. Trying to rebuild with nothing but broken bones and broken spirits. It’s far out on the edge of the kingdom, surrounded by overgrown woods and cliffs that fall straight into icy black water. No one dares come out this far anymore. That’s the only reason we’re still alive.Getting here wasn’t easy.Our faces are everywhere—on walls, on poles, on broken-down carriages and flickering market signs. It’s like the kingdom wants to make sure no one forgets what we did. What we tried to do.Every time I closed my eyes on the road here, all I could see were flames. Screams. Blood on my hands that I don’t even remember drawing. The silence between us during the journey was suffocating. No one had the strength to talk. We were all still shaking from what we’d lost.I don’t even remember falling asleep when we got here. I just remember the way the wall

ALTHEAThe other night was a success. Or at least as close to a success as we’ve had in a long time. When we all got back to the pack house, breathless and exhausted, we dumped our bags out on the creaky old table and just stared.Food. Medicine. Even a few clean bandages. It wasn’t much, certainly not enough to last even a few weeks, but it was enough to feel like we weren’t doomed. Enough to give our men a chance. Enough to let people sleep without clutching their stomachs in hunger.It’s lasted us days now. A tiny cushion of security in a world that doesn’t give us any. It buys us time to come up with a more permanent solution. Whatever that means.Still… it doesn’t ease the restlessness inside me.I keep thinking about home. About my father, pacing our living room, wearing a groove into the floorboards. About my sister, probably curled up on the couch pretending to care. The whole kingdom must know what happened by now. Our faces are everywhere, wanted posters and whispered rumors