All Chapters of Rejected But Elevated : Chapter 81 - Chapter 87

Cassie's PovThe lists were trying to kill me. Not with a sword, but with words. Each name was a weight. I felt like I was drowning in paper.Then I heard it.Music. Real music. Not a war drum. A fiddle and laughter.I dropped my pen. It was a stupid list anyway. The dead already knew they were dead. I went to the window.Down in the courtyard, my pack was choosing to live.The firelight painted everything gold. People were dancing. Actually dancing. My shoulder gave a mean throb. The sling was off, but the scar was a nasty reminder. A present from my sister.“You planning to hide up here all night?”Mark. He stood in the doorway with two cups. They smelled like cinnamon and trouble.“I’ve got work,” I said, but it was a lie. My heart was down there with the music.“The work can wait. They need to see your face, Cassie. They need to know you made it.” He shoved a cup into my hand. It was warm. “When’s the last time you had fun?”I didn’t answer. I couldn’t remember.“Come on.” He off

The air in the Vale archives was thick and still, heavy with the scent of crumbling parchment and cold stone. Daisy pressed herself into the shadows of the wall, the rough-hewn rock biting into her back. She held her breath, counting the slow, fading footsteps of the patrol. One heartbeat. Two. The sound melted into the mountain’s silence. Now. Move. She slipped from her hiding place. Her father’s voice was a ghost in her ear, a lesson from a lifetime ago: “The oldest wards don’t shout, little wolf. They hum. Find the frequency, and you can walk through the noise.” Her fingers, delicate and sure, traced the symbols carved deep into the oak doorframe. To her eyes, the unique vision of a hybrid—the magic wasn’t a solid wall. The air rippled. The ward didn’t shatter; it sighed, parting like a weary curtain. She didn’t hesitate. Her feet carried her to the heart of the chamber, to a circle of stone wolves frozen in eternal snarls. And there, on a pedestal of night-black marbl

Cassie's PovThe quiet in my chambers was choking me. I stood by the window, staring out at dawn, but all I could picture was Lark's face. That look of disappointment, raw betrayal.“You played games with our lives.”His words kept ringing in my ears, like some kind of endless curse. I pressed my hands flat against the cool glass, trying to shove the memory aside, but it stuck to me, thick as smoke.Just a few months back, we'd been out hunting in those same mountains. Only the two of us, no pack drama, no fights over territory. He'd seemed different then, a bit softer, more willing to let his guard down.*"I lost my sister when I was twelve,"* he'd told me, as we sat by a rushing stream, our fresh kills chilling in the snow nearby. *"It was a rogue attack. I was meant to keep her safe, but I just froze up. I stood there like an idiot and watched them rip her to pieces."*I'd wanted to say something comforting, but he raised a hand to stop me.*"That's why I hate games, Cassie. Wh