All Chapters of Rejected But Elevated : Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

Lark's POVFor the umpteenth time, I tossed round the bed, the duvet was already off my skin.The birds hums chirped, destroying all my hope of sleeping.It was a new day.I didn't sleep well.I had lay there long after Cassie's breathing evened out, staring at the ceiling, turning everything Mark had said over in my mind. The border. The stores. The cold season creeping in while we bled resources we didn't have.It wasn't just the pack crisis keeping me awake though.It was the way Cassie had looked at me when I came back from the meeting. That quiet steady look she gave things she was trying to figure out. She hadn't said anything. Neither had I. We'd just existed in the same room carrying our separate weights and pretending the other one couldn't feel it.That was new for us. That distance.I didn't like it.By the time grey light started coming through the curtains I'd already made up my mind. I sat up carefully and swung my legs over the side of the bed. My right hand started alm

Cassie's POV "What do we do first," I said. Sorin looked at me for a moment before he answered. Like he was measuring how much I could hold right now and deciding to give me all of it anyway, because he knew I'd want that more than he'd want to protect me from it. "We are stabilizing him tonight," he said. "His body has been working too hard for too long. Whatever reserves he had, he burned through today." He moved back to bed and looked at Lark with that careful clinical attention. "He needs rest. Proper rest. Not the kind he's been allowing himself." "And after tonight?" "We manage it carefully." He pulled his hands together slowly. "There are herbs. Treatments. Things that won't reverse what's happening but will give his body more time to work with." He paused. "How much time depends on how well he cooperates." I almost laughed at that. Lark cooperated after being told to slow down. Lark accepted accepting that his body had limits he couldn't push past by sheer will! M

Mark's POVNobody knew I was leaving.That was intentional.Cassie would have stopped me. Lark definitely would have stopped me. So I waited until the house was quiet, and the morning was still grey, and I pulled on the most ordinary clothes I owned and walked out through the east gate like I was just another pack member heading somewhere unremarkable.The ride to Vale Pack took about two hours.I used every minute of it.Sorin's voice kept replaying in my head whether I wanted it to or not. *It only goes one direction.* I'd heard those words and nodded and kept my face exactly where it needed to be, and then I'd gone to my room that night and sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the wall for a long time.One direction.Like that was something I was just supposed to accept.Lark was my twin. People who didn't have a twin probably couldn't understand what that actually meant. It wasn't just growing up together or knowing each other well. It was deeper than that.Like two things made

Cassie's POVJoelle was on her knees before I even reached the courtyard.I heard the commotion from the corridor and came out to find her there in the dirt, head bowed, hands pressed flat on the ground in front of her like she was trying to make herself as small as possible. Petra was standing beside her looking pale. The two guards who'd ridden with them were off to the side and neither of them was meeting my eyes.That alone told me everything."Get up Joelle," I said.She didn't move. She just started talking to the ground."I'm sorry, Luna. I'm so sorry, I tried. I really tried, but the ground was frozen solid, and we couldn't get the root out cleanly, and I thought I had it but when I pulled—" her voice broke, "—it snapped. Right at the base. I didn't mean to, I swear I followed everything you said, but my hands slipped and—""Joelle." My voice came out sharper than I meant it to. "Get up."She got up slowly. Her face was red and wet and her hands were still shaking. She was ma

Cassie's POVWe got back just before noon.The pack house was moving through its usual midday noise when we rode through the gates. I had the root wrapped carefully inside my jacket the whole ride back, one hand pressed against it every time the horse moved too fast over rough ground. Mark had noticed but didn't say a word either. The ride was quiet.Lark was sitting up in bed when we walked in. He looked at the root in my hands and then at my face and whatever he saw there made him sit up straighter."Is it good?" he asked."Yeah," I said.Mark pulled up a chair and sat down while I went straight to the preparation.This time I took my time with it. No rushing. No telling myself that the damage was close enough to a whole. I had what I needed, and I was going to use it properly.Lark watched me work without talking. Mark was quieter than usual too.The three of us just existed in that room together for a little while, and it felt okay. Heavy but okay.When everything was ready,