Semua Bab THE SUBSTITUTE MATE FOR THE ALPHA KING: Bab 71 - Bab 80

The world had lost its color. The majestic, snow-capped peaks of the Ironpeak range were just grey shapes against a washed-out sky. The wind, which had once felt bracing, now held only a biting, cruel edge. Every step I took was a mechanical act, my body moving while my soul remained trapped in that dark fissure, listening to the fading echo of Kairi’s breath.Elisse’s small hand was a cold, limp weight in mine. She hadn’t spoken since we’d left the chimney, her silence a deeper wound than any cry. She just walked, her eyes vacant, staring at the ground. She had seen the terror on my face. She had heard the finality in Kelra’s silence. She knew.Kelra walked ahead, a solitary, grim sentinel. His shoulders were set in a rigid line, his usual confident stride replaced by a heavy, plodding gait. He had lost two of his best fighters, and now he had helped leave his Alpha to die in the dark. The weight of it was crushing him, too.We walked for hours, the silence between us a third, grievi

The days that followed were a strange, suspended reality. The Citadel was a world of regimented order and echoing stone, a stark contrast to the chaotic wilderness we had escaped. Elisse, slowly emerging from her shell of shock, found a fragile sense of wonder in the towering, torch-lit halls and the kind, if reserved, attentions of the Citadel’s women. They brought her warm clothes and simple toys carved from mountain wood. They were careful, respectful, but their eyes held a knowing pity that made my skin crawl. They knew our story. They knew the role we were to play.I was given a new, dark grey dress of simple but sturdy wool, the color of the Citadel’s walls. It felt like a uniform. My recovery was supervised with detached efficiency by the Citadel’s healers, who tended to my scrapes and the deep, invisible bruises on my spirit with the same clinical precision. I ate, I slept, I walked the prescribed routes through the inner courtyards, all under the watchful eyes of Valerius’s g

The Citadel, once a place of oppressive silence, now thrummed with the grim energy of impending war. The unified roar of the assembled lords after my speech still echoed in the stones, but for me, the air was thick with a different, more private tension. I had become the heart of a lie. Every time a soldier looked at me with respectful pity, every time a lord bowed his head in condolence, a fresh wave of guilt and fear washed over me. I was the grieving widow, the symbol of their cause, and the knowledge of the truth was a corrosive secret in my chest.The official departure of the Ironpeak army was a spectacle of chilling precision. Rank upon rank of soldiers in grey and silver marched out through the gates, their banners flying, their faces set with determination. Commander Valerius rode at their head, a figure of unyielding stone. He did not look back at me. Our agreement was sealed, and we were both bound to our roles.But as the last of the army vanished down the mountain pass, a

The silence in the great hall was thicker than the mountain itself, broken only by the ragged breaths of the wounded and the drip of blood on stone. Gideon’s smile did not falter at my words; it widened, a predator amused by the squeak of its prey.“My curse?” he chuckled, a dry, rasping sound. “You are a cornered rabbit, spitting at a wolf. Your defiance is the last flicker of a snuffed-out flame.”He took another step, his armored boots crashing against the flagstones. The few remaining Citadel guards tightened their grip on their weapons, a futile, brave gesture.“But you are correct about one thing,” he mused, his cold eyes sweeping over me. “This is a beginning. The beginning of a new era, unified under my banner. And every new era requires a foundation.” He raised his mace, pointing the bloodied head directly at my heart. “A foundation built on the crushed bones of the old.”This was it. There was no miracle coming. No Vaelen, no bear, no army. There was only the cold, final rea

The silence in the great hall was a living entity, fed by grief and the metallic scent of blood. It was broken by the rough, practical sounds of the victorious warriors securing the Citadel, but those sounds felt distant, muffled by the sheer, suffocating weight of the loss that held me pinned to the floor between Kairi and Kelra. I was a statue of sorrow, one hand still clasping Kairi’s cooling fingers, the other resting on the crushed chest plate of the Beta who had given everything.Time lost all meaning. I didn’t know if minutes or hours had passed when a gentle but firm hand touched my shoulder.“My lady.”I looked up, my vision blurred. It was one of Kelra’s warriors, a man with a gash across his brow, his eyes shadowed with his own exhaustion and the pain of losing his commander.“We must… we must see to them,” he said softly, his voice thick. “And to you.”I nodded numbly, allowing him to help me to my feet. My legs were weak, my body trembling with a cold that had nothing to