All Chapters of The cursed mate's return : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

Finnick's pov We left before the sun rose. The ground still remembered the heat from the crater. Even the birds stayed quiet. No one said much. After everything, silence felt easier than words.Freya walked beside me, her pace steady, gaze sharp. The glow beneath her skin hadn’t gone away. If anything, it had settled deeper, like it belonged there now. Like she was finally becoming something the leyline had been waiting for.She didn’t look afraid. I wasn’t sure that was a good thing.Velza was behind us, her limp worse than before. She didn’t ask for help. She never would. But she leaned harder on her staff, and the way she looked at Freya—like she expected her to catch fire again at any second—made it clear we were all still waiting for something to break.Kye walked in silence, staring at a piece of bark like it held the secrets of the stars. It didn’t, but that never stopped him. He said the constellations were out of order last night. I believed him.Logan took up the rear. Quie

Finnick's pov I thought I’d become part of the stone but I was wrong.Stone doesn’t remember. I did.I remembered the way Freya’s hand fit in mine. The weight of her, soft and strong, the way she held back the fire not with power, but with will. I remembered every breath that led us here — the way Logan carried guilt like a sword strapped to his back, the way Velza never blinked when she was afraid, the way Kye always knew when to say nothing at all.And I remembered my own fear. That I’d be useless in the end.That all I could offer was loyalty, a body to break in place of someone who mattered more.But now I was the Beacon and the Beacon mattered.Even here, even in this in-between place where space had no shape and time had no spine. I could feel the world above me. Cracked, strained, waiting. The leyline was alive now, burning under the surface like a pulse under skin and it was hungry.It wanted more."They’re waking."Freya’s voice again, not distant this time, but inside me,

Freya's povI stood before the monolith, watching the symbols orbit like slow, dying stars.They were mine.I had carved them into the leyline the last time I was here or a version of me had. I still didn’t remember how, only that it had cost her everything and now I was back.Because whatever lived inside this place, whatever wore my shape and bled my rage across the world, was built from what I forgot and I was done forgetting.“Do you know what you’re doing?” Kye asked, voice tight.I didn’t answer right away. I let my hand hover over the monolith, just above the surface. The stone didn’t feel cold. It felt aware, Like something on the other side of it had leaned in to listen.“I’m remembering,” I said.“That doesn’t sound like a plan,” Finnick muttered.“It’s not,” I said quietly. “It’s the beginning of one.”The leyline twisted as my fingers touched the stone.A shivering in the center of me, like gravity shifting its loyalty.Runes flared brighter. Not just above the surfaced und

Maia's povI used to believe that love could survive anything, especially war, betrayal, even pride.But standing in that great hall, with every eye on me, I realized love can die quietly, with no sign of warning at all.Varek Ironclaw, the Alpha King, the man I once trusted with my life, stood before his court and cut the bond between us with a few simple words.“I, Varek Ironclaw, release you.”Just like that?No trace of the man who once looked at me like I was his entire world.For a heartbeat, I couldn’t move. The whispers started almost immediately, soft voices in the crowd, cheering, murmuring, like the buzzing of flies. I heard them all, flashing and swirling around me like a cyclone, I shut my eyes in shame, then open again.“She’s been cast aside.”“I thought she was his mate.”“So that’s how it ends.”I wanted to shout at them, to tell them they knew nothing about me, about us. But I didn’t. I stood still, my hands trembling at my sides. I wasn’t going to give them the satis

Varek's pov“She’s gone.”The words reached me before the messenger did. I didn’t believe it until I saw the look in his eyes.“Maia fled the keep,” he said, breathless. “With the healer. They crossed the west ridge before sunrise.”Something vanished inside me.I stood so fast my chair crashed against the stone floor. The council members flinched. No one dared speak.“Find her,” I said quietly. “And find whoever failed to stop her.”They scattered like frightened birds.The hall emptied, leaving only one person behind Seren Vale. She leaned against the pillar, lips curved in a smile too soft to be friendly.“She was never one of us,” she said. “You knew that, didn’t you?”I didn’t answer.“She was sweet, I’ll give her that,” Seren went on, circling slowly, her perfume thick in the air. “But love doesn’t keep a kingdom. Maybe it’s for the best. You can focus on your duty now.”My gaze snapped to her. “Careful what you say.”“I’m only being honest,” she replied, tilting her head. “She r