All Chapters of Bound To The Crown Prince: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Edrian's POVThe chamber was too quiet.This was the first thing I noticed as I was waking up. Silence was as oppressive as any chain I had ever had on my hands, and nothing broke the silence but the crackling of the fire on the other side of the room. There was smoke and cedar burning in the air. I pulled back to avoid the shadows, lost, and then hissed quietly as the aching of my ribs brought me to my senses of where I was and what had happened.The training grounds.The blows.The taste of blood in my mouth.And then… Berry, my wolf. The memory of his roar still thundered in my bones. For years, I’d thought he was gone because he never talked to me or even take charge of my body. Yet, here in DarkMoonCrest, he started talking to me and when the world closed in, he had broken free—terrifying, magnificent, and unstoppable twice. For a moment, I had not been the beaten slave cowering before the whip. I had been something else. Something more.But the weight of shame returned quickly.

Xander’s POVMy room walls had never been as small.I walked round in front of the fire, my hands rolled into fists, and the heat within me was more warm than the fire itself. My wolf, Feris, tore at my flesh impatiently, insistent, clamoring to get that single thing I had promised to deny him.Edrian.He could be found everywhere I went in this god-damned palace. His scent was still in the corridors, and it is maddening, spiced woodsmoke, salt, something raw and unskilled that could never be matched by the most exalted in the social circle. He followed me like a curse, into my lungs with every breath, till I was drunk on him.And now he had the audacity to stare at me the way he did at the banquet. Hurt. Accusing. Like I had betrayed him by letting Amber touch me.As if I owed him anything.The chamber door creaked open. I didn’t have to turn to know who it was. His presence hit me before the sound, his heartbeat, his scent, the way Feris surged toward him with a feral snarl of recog

Edrian’s POVThe announcement of the royal hunt came with the clash of bronze horns. Their echo rolled across the courtyard like thunder. The gathered warriors straightened in unison, eyes bright, spines stiff, as the herald unfurled the crimson scroll of decree.“The Royal Hunt will commence under the blessing of the Crown. By tradition, chosen warriors will enter the northern forest at dawn. The quarry—stag, boar, or whatever the fates send, will determine the worth of our pack.”The crowd murmured, eager, pride swelling in their throats. The royal hunt wasn’t just about game; it was about survival and proving loyalty. Men came back with kills, bloodied and triumphant, or they came back in shame. To be selected was an honor. Refusal was unheard of.I was opposite the courtyard, partly in the shade of the stone pillars. “Edrian.”My body froze, this was something only warriors did, i was no warrior, I had been whipped, mortified, beaten to pieces on more occasions than I could remem

Kael's POVThe boy was too easy to read.Edrian.He was at the doorway of the hall, bowed down a little, and with clasped hands behind him, as if he had been trained to disappear. Yet his eyes betrayed him. They were trailing Xander like a rope. Each movement, each stride, and each thoughtless jerk of the wrist of the son of the Alpha King, Edrian's eyes lingered, hungry and pained simultaneously.I drank my wine and allowed the scene to pass, half-hearing the courtiers who muttered beside me. “Look at him,” one scoffed. “Still smells of the dirt he crawled out from. How long until the Alpha tires of his little pet project?”“Not long,” another replied, her painted mouth curling. “Men like Xander don’t keep strays. They break them.”Their laughter was soft, and cruel. I said nothing. I had no need to defend him...not yet. We are all in the hall for the celebration of the new warriors who made it out of the Royal hunting game with honor.I watched, noting every twitch in Edrian’s jaw,

The palace was a nest of serpents.I knew it before I heard it...the prickle of eyes on my back, the snickers behind the silk fans and the armored hands. When I came into the colonnade it was already spreading. Whatever they had said of me, it had got claws.A group of young courtiers hung around the marble fountain, their jewelled sleeves in the sunlight. Their laughter carried sharp and bright, cutting into me.“Did you hear?” one of them drawled. “The mongrel has wormed his way into the prince’s bed. Perhaps he fetches boots as well as he spreads his legs.”Laughter.My stomach churned."No, no, haven’t you seen? He’s always hovering." Another cruel voice chimed, "Perhaps Prince Xander likes his slaves eager. Gods know Lady Amber isn’t enough to satisfy him.”Heat crept up my neck. I clenched my fists at my sides, and my wolf, Berry, pacing within my chest. Ignore them. Walk.But I couldn’t. I froze like a rabbit caught in hounds’ teeth.They weren’t even whispering anymore.“The