Lahat ng Kabanata ng Marked by betrayal, bound to the Lycan Lord.: Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 125

Xena’s POVI couldn’t really pick a style because none of them were mine. The dresses, skirts, and jackets the attendants brought me looked expensive—too expensive—but they didn’t feel like me. It was like dressing up in someone else’s life. But since I wasn’t the one paying, I decided not to overthink it. If he wanted me to try all this, then fine. I’d just take everything and let him deal with the bill.When I finally walked out of the changing room, the attendants were waiting. One of them carried a small box and opened it with a bright smile. Inside was a bracelet—thin, gold, with tiny diamonds that caught the light in a way that made it almost blinding.“This is on the house, ma’am,” the woman said politely.I hesitated for a second. People didn’t just hand out things like this where I came from. “Thank you,” I said quietly, still unsure.They began wrapping up the clothes I’d picked, layering each item in crisp white paper, tucking them into glossy bags. I stood there, watching

Xena’s POVKael’s eyes flicked over me once, his eyes sharp and unreadable. Then, without missing a beat, he said, “We’re late for dinner.”That was it. No “sorry,” no explanation, not even a hint of what had him looking like he’d just fought with a ghost in the hallway.I glanced past him, back toward the bathroom mirrors, and my stomach knotted. The same woman from before was standing in front of the sink, reapplying her lipstick with lazy precision.Something hot and irrational rose in me. I didn’t even know her name and I didn't want to know, what I wanted right now was to march over and rip every strand of hair off her head. My mind supplied its own story: her with Kael, pressed against the cold bathroom wall, while I was busy adjusting my lipstick like an idiot.If Kael wanted to play house with me, fine. But if he wanted me to believe any of this was real, he could at least keep his pants zipped long enough to make it to dinner.I turned back to him, my voice cold. “Fine. Let’

Raven's povI woke up with a start. My throat was dry, my body sore as if I had been dragged for miles. When I tried to sit up, my ribs burned and I fell back onto the soft bed. A low ceiling stared back at me, wooden beams dark with age. The smell of herbs and smoke filled in the room.“Don’t move too fast,” a voice said.I turned my head and saw a woman by the corner of the room. She was middle-aged, her hair streaked with gray, tied in a knot at the back. Her eyes were sharp, brown like bark, watching me the way hunters watch a wounded animal.“You’re awake,” she said, setting down a clay bowl on the table beside me. “You were half-dead when I found you.”I licked my lips. “Where… where am I?”“My house,” she replied, not smiling. “Deep in the forest, away from the villages. I don’t usually keep strangers here. But you looked like you were running from death itself.”Her words tightened my chest.I looked away, fighting the ache that consumed my body. “I— I must have collapsed in