Semua Bab The Alpha’s Mistake: Lila’s Rise from Rejection: Bab 161 - Bab 170

GAVINSolenne found me by the eastern cliff after the rites ended, barefoot, skirts hitched in one hand. She sat beside me on the flat stone, legs swinging over the drop like she couldn’t feel the fall calling. Her magic pulsed low and constant, humming into my skin, into the crack in my bones I had

COWRIEThey arrived before sunrise, before the dew dried from the courtyard stones and before I’d finished my tea. First came the guards in cloaks too stiff to move in, then the drummers, then the elders who hadn’t spoken my name in years. They placed my chair in the center of the receiving hall lik

GAVINThe guards had whispered, stupid with fear, that she was gone again. I followed her scent through the outer paths behind the storage barns, past the sleeping den, into the low woods that bordered the old stone fence where the Nightbloods used to keep their silent watch.The trees were thick wi

COWRIEI ran until my lungs scraped raw, until the courtyard gravel sliced my feet. I got to the garden gate and creaked it open.My skirts tangled around my knees, fists balled at my sides, heart thundering like hooves. I saw her before I could catch my breath—Mama, kneeling by the herb basin, hand

COWRIEI started with the blacksmith’s daughter. Her name was Yeri, and she always stared too long when I passed, always lingered too close when she brought metals for the palace forge.I found her behind the training barracks, hands coated in soot and sleeves rolled. She glanced at the guards flank