All Chapters of THE CURSE OF THE FIFTH MATE: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

The house was steeped in silence, the kind that didn't bring peace but a choking kind of tension. Shadows clung to the corners like cobwebs, and the air smelled faintly of herbs, sweat, and something far more bitter—fear.Maelin Hale lay upon her bed, unmoving, save for the occasional flutter of her eyelids or twitch of her fingers. Her once-glowing skin was pale as parchment, her lips dry and cracked. The poison that had seeped into her veins still hadn't been identified. No healer could name it. No sorcerer had reversed it. She was caught in a sleep deeper than anything natural, and Veyra sat beside her, her fingers curled tightly around her mother's limp hand.Jon paced in the hallway, unable to rest. Zarek stood watch near the main door, eyes ever sharp, arms folded over his chest like a sentinel carved from stone. Lioren sat by the hearth, sharpening a blade with a fury that didn't belong to steel. Rune stood near the window, staring out as if answers lay in the night sky. Zevi l

The morning mist clung to the treetops like breath on glass, silencing even the birds. Veyra and Zarek emerged from the shadows of the realm he had led her to—still marked by the weight of the truths they had uncovered and the passion they'd shared. Her skin hummed with remnants of ancient power. The bond between them pulsed stronger than ever, threading through her soul like golden wildfire.But something was wrong.They hadn't even reached the clearing near the edge of the Moonfang territory when Rune met them, his wolf pacing behind him, nostrils flared. His expression was tight, panicked in a way Veyra had never seen before. Blood speckled his jawline—not his, she knew instinctively, but old and crusted. Not fresh."Kael's gone," Rune said, without preamble.Veyra blinked, her breath catching. "What?""He left in the night. No one saw him go." Rune's eyes flicked to Zarek. "But he didn't just vanish. There are markings... signs.""What kind of signs?" Zarek's voice was already shi

The days after the Order's attack passed in an aching blur. The blood had been washed from the stone, but the scent of it lingered—metallic and sour, a ghost that clung to the wind. In the eastern wing of the Hale residence, Jon lay bandaged and bruised, his breathing shallow but steady. The healer, a grim-eyed woman named Thessa, visited twice a day, murmuring prayers to the old spirits as she smeared salves across his wounds and whispered reassurances Veyra barely heard.Veyra hadn't left Jon's side in two days. Not since the Order descended in a storm of shadows and fury, not since Elias fought like the warrior of legend he once was—killing three attackers with a savagery that even made Rune flinch. Not since she saw her brother crumple under the blade of one of those cowards.Jon's survival had been her only tether.She sat now on the edge of his bed, fingers absently toying with the corner of his wool blanket. Her thoughts were tangled, guilt clawing through every breath. He look

The cold stillness of the morning was shattered by the echo of a slammed door. Kael stood just outside the threshold of Veyra's chamber, his chest heaving with desperate breath, his face pale beneath the grime and dried blood that marked his days away. The once familiar glint in his eyes was dull now—hollowed by regret, swallowed by guilt."Veyra, please," he rasped, his voice rough with exhaustion and a deeper pain that cracked around the edges. "Just let me talk to you."Veyra didn't move. She stood at the far end of her chamber, arms wrapped tightly around herself as though trying to hold her broken pieces together. Her eyes, once so bright, so alive, were rimmed red from endless nights of crying. Her mother's death was a wound that hadn't even begun to scab, and now this—Kael's betrayal—ripped her even further apart.She turned slowly, her gaze locking on him. There was no warmth, no softness. Only a silent fury that simmered beneath her skin, tethered by the thin thread of restra

The sky bled gray as the storm clouds gathered over the Hale estate. The winds keened like mourners, whispering through the trees with the sound of a thousand ghostly voices. The weight of grief, betrayal, and fury hung like lead in the air, wrapping Veyra's shoulders tighter than any cloak. She stood alone beneath the ancient oak in the courtyard, the same tree her mother had enchanted as a child to ward off dark spirits.Her mother was gone.Her bond with Kael was gone.And now, everything in her soul burned with one single, blinding truth: the Order would pay."I will not be their prey anymore," Veyra whispered, her voice brittle, her eyes fixed on nothing and everything at once. "I will be their end."Behind her, the gravel crunched softly under approaching footsteps. Zarek didn't speak as he drew closer, only wrapped his arms around her from behind. He didn't need words. His silence was an anchor, steady and unyielding, grounding her as her rage boiled dangerously beneath her ski