Lahat ng Kabanata ng To Rule the Tsar Alpha's Heart: Kabanata 101 - Kabanata 110

Dennise's Point of ViewShe studied me the way one studies a fresco for cracks. I felt her hunger—not for my body; for certainty. She had spent centuries hunting loyal blood. The last week had been a toast to finally finding it. It would annoy her to discover I had learned how to sip without swallowing.“There is a gala tomorrow,” she said at last. “The nobles want to hand you their old prayers wrapped as compliments. Wear the black velvet. The one that makes weak men forget their names.”“Of course.”“And after we let dust shine itself,” she went on, turning away, “we make real choices. The wolves.”Ace. The name flared so bright it hurt. I kept my eyes pleasant.She looked back, amused by how well I took orders even when they were knives. “Can you do it?”Yes, my body said, the way an instrument answers when you ask it for a note it was built to make.No, my new pulse said, stubborn as a bad hymn.“I can do anything you ask,” I said aloud, and the grammar of it was true but the mea

They went inside. I slid down the side yard, past the laundry line, shirts that could have fit the house itself, past the vegetable bed that had lost an argument with drought. A window was open to the back room; the curtain breathed for the house.Inside: a little boy in a bed with rocket ships on it, cheek fever-bright, eyes holding too much sky. An IV taped to his arm with care that would have embarrassed most hospitals. The woman hovered at the edge, ready to fight or fall.Ace sat on the bed and the mattress did not dare squeak. He rested his palm against the boy’s forehead, wolf heat meeting human fire and something in the air corrected itself.“Better?” he asked, and his voice had an edge I had not heard on the docks or in the church. It was softer. Not gentler. Something else. Something that believed in repair.The boy blinked. “A bit.”“What did we agree?” Ace said.“That I’m allowed to say ‘a bit’ once,” the boy whispered. “And then you ask again.”Ace nodded.“So. Better?”T

Ace’s POVThe restaurant pretended not to know men like me as long as they served and the cash flows in.It wore its innocence the way expensive places do, linen that had never learned to wrinkle, crystal that believed fingers existed only to be polished, a pianist who played songs too careful to have a past. The room glowed amber from the sconces, light doing that civilized thing where it forgives every face. Nobody smoked. Nobody raised their voice. Money made sure manners did the killing.Lucas sat across from me, easy in a jacket that had seen more meetings than gunfire. He had the gift of making himself look like a guest wherever he was, even when his pockets were full of other people’s secrets. Our table was cornered and quiet, two walls to my back, a sightline on the main entrance, kitchen swing, and the rear service door. It smelled like truffle and baked fish.The waiter poured a wine I didn’t plan to drink. Lucas waved him off with a soft “grazie,” waited until the hush retu

Valentina's POVSuspicion is the purest form of affection, at least, that’s what centuries have taught me. It means someone matters enough to disappoint you.Dennise had begun to disappoint me.At first, it was small, missing reports, unusual silences during briefings, a faint distraction when I spoke. Nothing new for the newly turned; some cling to the faint scent of their old lives, pretending their hearts still beat for reasons other than my command. They always break eventually. Always.But Dennise… she was different.She had learned to hide her defiance behind obedience. The perfect soldier, the perfect weapon. I had raised her from ashes and rewritten her into my masterpiece, a creature of dawn and dusk, loyal to me, and me alone. Yet lately, she had been… absent.Not physically. No. She was always where she should be, polished, composed, smiling that serene little smile that reminded me of saints right before martyrdom. But her eyes wandered. Her answers came too fast. Her defe

Dennise's POVThat night, I couldn’t sleep.The city was too quiet, the stars too indifferent. My reflection in the mirror didn’t look like me anymore, pale, perfect, unbothered. It was Valentina’s face wearing my eyes.I hated it.I hated her.And yet… a part of me still admired her. She had created empires with less. She had survived centuries, while mortals turned to dust. I was her creation, her masterpiece, and yet, she had no idea that the weapon she built now aimed at her heart.But I couldn’t kill her yet. Not until Ace was safe.And the only way to keep him safe was to make Valentina believe I was still hers.So when she summoned me the next day, I smiled, bowed, and pretended the world didn’t tremble beneath my feet.Her study was cold, always cold. The air smelled of roses and old parchment, of blood dried too long ago to offend. She sat at her desk, glasses perched on her nose, a letter half-written.“Dennise,” she said, without looking up. “You’ve been very quiet lately