Semua Bab When My Mate Chose Another, the Lycan King Chose Me: Bab 61 - Bab 70

The ride felt endless, stretched thin the way nerves stretch when they are pulled too tight for too long and still expected to hold. The car moved steadily, humming under me, a gentle sway that should have soothed, yet every mile only pushed the memories deeper into my ribs until breathing felt like work I had to remember to do. My hands lay folded in my lap the way a queen’s hands should, quiet and composed, but my palms were damp and slick, and the silk under my fingers clung as if it knew I was lying.When the car slowed, my breath snagged hard, a small sound rising in my throat that never made it out. Through the tinted glass I caught the wash of lights and color, banners rippling like living things, the shine of polished marble steps, and bodies gathered in tight clusters of fabric and perfume. This was a spectacle curated for celebration, yet every glimmer looked like a blade when I let myself look too long. I was not walking into a room tonight. I was walking into a past that s

Natasha’s POVThey bowed.The whole room, like a sea folding in on itself, bent low before me. For a second, I thought it was a passing gesture, a momentary dip of reverence that would be over quickly, heads lifting again as the ceremony continued. But no one moved. The bows lingered. They held, unbroken, a stillness so sharp it pressed against me like the silence after a scream. I waited, breath shallow, eyes darting from one bowed head to the next. Why weren’t they rising?Confusion fluttered in my chest, and then the softest nudge at my side. Gavril. His hand didn’t move, his face didn’t change, but the voice entered my mind with the calm clarity of the mind-link. “You need to ask them to rise.”My lips parted. Oh. Of course. That was my place now—my role. Not just to stand and be looked at, but to grant permission, to allow the hall to breathe again. For a flicker of a moment I wanted to laugh at myself, laugh at how unprepared I still felt for all this despite the jewels on my sk

Natasha’s POVThe door closed behind me, muffling the crowd, the voices, the weight of everything I had just walked through. The car smelled faintly of polished leather and the subtle cologne that clung to the guards, sharp but grounding. For a moment, I just sat there, hands folded too tightly in my lap, pulse still racing even though the event was over. My body hadn’t gotten the message. My chest was still tight, my heart still thundering like I stood in the middle of that hall with every eye burning into me.The door opposite mine opened, and Gavril slipped inside, quiet as ever. His movements were measured, unhurried, every detail of him sharp—like he was carved for the sole purpose of control. He settled into the seat beside me, his eyes cutting toward me with that piercing steadiness that never seemed to miss a thing. For a while, he said nothing. The silence stretched, filled only by the soft hum of the engine and the faint rustle of the guards outside shifting positions. Then,

Natasha’s POVThe corridors of the palace always seemed colder at night, the stones carrying whispers of footsteps and secrets, and tonight they pressed down heavier than ever. When I returned, the journey back still clinging to my skin, I found him waiting. Lucien. He stood at the end of the hall where the shadows curved around the tall windows, and the sight of him there—so still, so composed—was like walking into something both terrifying and grounding at once. His presence had that effect.“Welcome back,” he said, his voice quiet, unhurried, but with a weight that filled the air like a command even when it was not. His eyes, sharp and steady, moved over me, not missing a detail. “Why not you have dinner first, and a goodnight rest after? Tomorrow, we will talk about how it went.”I nodded, my throat too tight to form an answer immediately. Relief and exhaustion tangled inside me, relief that he didn’t press me to spill everything at once, exhaustion from holding myself together fo

Lucien’s POVThe morning had started with silence. The kind of silence that weighed on the air like a warning. I sat in my study with Gavril, my Beta, the map of Darkmoon College laid out on the wide oak table between us. He stood to the side, his arms folded, waiting for me to give the signal. I hated wasting words on things that didn’t need to be said, and Gavril had long since learned to read me without asking.Today was inspection day. Not one of the ones where I sent delegates. Not one of those carefully announced visits that gave the school’s elders enough time to clean their mess, polish their lies, and present a version of perfection that didn’t exist in reality. No. Today was one of mine.The unannounced kind.“We leave now,” I said finally, pushing back my chair.“Yes, my King,” Gavril replied, his voice steady, deep, the kind of voice that carried without needing to be raised.We didn’t take the official convoy. No flags. No line of cars. No fanfare. Just one black car wit