All Chapters of The alpha king's slave mate: Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

LyraThe castle felt different tonight.I stood at my window watching the moon rise over Shadowfang, silver light spilling across rooftops and battlements like liquid hope. Tomorrow, everything would change. Tomorrow, I would either save everyone or die trying. There was no middle ground or safe path forward.Only sacrifice.My hands trembled as I pressed them against the cool glass. I could feel the weight of the Shard in the chamber below—a physical pressure against my magic, dark and hungry. It called to me even now, whispering promises of power if I would just embrace it instead of destroy it.But I knew better. I'd seen what embracing darkness did to Kael.A soft knock interrupted my thoughts."Come in," I called, already knowing who it was. The bond hummed with his presence before the door even opened.But it wasn't Ronan.It was my grandfather.King Aldric stood in the doorway, looking older than I'd ever seen him. The confident former king had been replaced by a tired grandfat

Celeste's povLyra was burning alive from the inside out.I could see it happening as her body was glowing so bright I could barely look directly at her. Silver light poured from every inch of her skin, blazing like a star pulled down from the heavens and trapped in human form. The air around us crackled with raw power, so intense it made my teeth ache and my bones vibrate.The Shard fought back with everything it had.It showed us visions—not just images, but entire realities that felt more real than the stone beneath my feet. I saw Kael as he was before the corruption. Smiling and laughing. His emerald eyes clear and kind as he looked at me like I was his entire world."I love you, Celeste," vision-Kael said, taking my hand. "We'll rule together and build something beautiful."Lies. All lies.But gods, they hurt.Lyra gasped beside me, and I knew she was seeing something similar. Kael as he could have been with her. A future where the prophecy never demanded sacrifice, where love co

Celeste's povThe throne room emptied slowly, people filing out in stunned silence. Victory felt hollow when the cost was written in blood on the floor and in the still form I refused to release."We need to move him," a healer said gently, kneeling beside me. "Take him somewhere more comfortable."I nodded numbly, unable to find words. Ronan helped lift Kael—so light now, like the corruption had hollowed him from within—and together we carried him to the infirmary.The castle was chaos. Wounded soldiers filled every available space. Healers rushed between beds, their hands stained red. The air smelled of blood and healing herbs and the acrid stench of burned shadow magic.But a different kind of energy hummed beneath the chaos. Hope and relief. The impossible realization that they'd survived.We placed Kael in a private room, away from the noise. He was still breathing but barely. The shadow corruption had stopped spreading after his death-like stillness in the throne room, but it ha

Celeste's povThe servant tunnel was exactly as I remembered—narrow, damp, smelling of dirt and moss. My hands trembled as I led our group through the darkness, one palm pressed against the cold stone wall for guidance."You're sure this leads inside?" Ronan whispered behind me."I'm sure. I used these passages constantly as a child. Hiding from Mother when it was time to go home after visiting the castle. Sneaking food to..." I stopped myself. To Lyra. When I felt guilty enough to try to make amends in small, pathetic ways.The tunnel opened into a storage cellar beneath the kitchen. I pushed the hidden door carefully, listening for sounds of life.Nothing.Just an oppressive silence that made my skin crawl.We emerged into a castle I barely recognized.The walls weren't just dark—they were wrong. Stone seemed to breathe, expanding and contracting like living tissue. Shadows pooled in corners, moving independently of any light source. They reached toward us with fingers of darkness b

Celeste's povThe castle's collapse stopped as suddenly as it began.We stood in the courtyard, gasping for breath, watching as the corruption drained from the stone like poison being leeched from a wound. The writhing shadows retreated, the twisted architecture straightened, and slowly—painfully—Moonstone Castle began to resemble itself again."It's over," Mira whispered beside me, her voice hollow with exhaustion. "She's really gone."I couldn't speak but only stare at my hands—still stained with Mother's black blood, still trembling from the weight of the sword I'd driven through her back.I'd killed her. My own mother. And the worst part?I felt relieved."Celeste." Lyra's hand on my shoulder pulled me back from the edge of whatever dark place my mind was spiraling toward. "Look."People were emerging from the castle. Servants, guards and nobles all moving slowly with uncertainly, like they'd just woken from a nightmare. The thralls—freed from Selene's control—stood blinking in th