All Chapters of Rise of the Alpha's King Rejected Mate : Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

The Echo of AshesThe fire crackled weakly in the hollow of the ruined keep, its light trembling against the walls as if uncertain it wanted to exist. Smoke drifted upward, curling through the holes in the stone ceiling where stars peered down like distant, uncaring eyes.Lyra sat close to the flames, her knees drawn to her chest. Her hands were wrapped in rough bandages that smelled faintly of herbs and smoke. The wounds stung, but it wasn’t the kind of pain that mattered. Not compared to everything else.Across from her, Kael slept….if it could even be called that. He was stretched on a tattered blanket, his face pale beneath the flicker of the fire. Every so often, his body would tense, like he was reliving the battle in his dreams. Lyra wanted to reach out, to wake him, to promise that he didn’t have to fight anymore but promises felt dangerous now. Too fragile.Darius leaned against a broken column near the doorway, sharpening a blade that had already seen more blood than it shou

The Song of the StarsThe night was vast and endless, a dome of shimmering constellations spread across the horizon like a celestial tapestry. The cool breeze carried with it the scent of wildflowers and the whisper of leaves, a symphony that seemed to echo the stillness that followed the storm of recent events. Lyra stood at the cliff’s edge, her cloak dancing with the wind as she gazed into the distance where the first traces of dawn began to paint the horizon in hues of violet and gold.Kael stood a few steps behind her, silent but steady. The faint glow from the twin moons brushed over his features, softening the sharp lines of his face and making his eyes gleam with quiet intensity. The two of them had survived battles that should have destroyed them…wars of magic and emotion, betrayals that cut deep, and truths that left scars invisible but everlasting. Yet here they stood, side by side, breathing the same air, beneath the same sky that had once seemed to watch their pain unfold

The Shape of Tomorrow The days that followed were not as easy as everyone had hoped. Peace, Lyra learned, was not the soft, gentle thing the songs promised…it was a stubborn, gritty labor of the soul. The war had ended, yes, but its scars remained carved into the bones of the land. The villages that had once been vibrant were reduced to half-ruined shells. The fields lay untended, the rivers still murky with ash. Every night, fires burned across the valley as the survivors tried to rebuild what was lost. Lyra worked alongside them not as a commander or a savior, but simply as one of them. She rolled up her sleeves, hauled timber and patched roofs. It felt strange at first, using her hands instead of her magic. But there was something healing about it too….something deeply human. Kael was never far from her side. He had a way of moving through the chaos like he belonged to it….his presence both calming and unyielding. Where others faltered, he lifted them up. Where the old wound

The Space Between HeartbeatsNight fell soft and amber over the valley, the moon rising like a silver coin over the newly rebuilt village. The fires from the feast had burned low, leaving only a few glowing embers scattered across the square. Laughter had faded into tired murmurs, then into the easy silence that came after celebration.Lyra lingered near the edge of the square long after the others had gone. The breeze lifted her hair, carrying with it the faint scent of pine and ash. For once, the quiet didn’t press against her chest…it felt like something she could breathe in.The world was beginning to slow, to settle. But her heart hadn’t quite learned how.She turned at the sound of footsteps behind her. Kael approached with that familiar calm stride, hands tucked loosely in his pockets, the kind of ease that came only to those who had once known chaos too well. His shirt was half unbuttoned, his dark hair slightly tousled from the wind.“You didn’t join the dancing,” he said, hi

When the Quiet TremblesThe rain began softly that evening…thin, silvery threads falling from a bruised sky. It was the kind of rain that smelled like memory, the kind that made the air hum with things left unsaid.Lyra stood by the open window of her room, watching droplets trace down the glass. The scent of wet earth and pine filled the air. The flickering candlelight caught the streaks of her silver and dark hair intertwined like two halves of a history she was still learning to accept.She heard the faint knock before the door opened.“Rain again,” Kael said, stepping inside. His hair was damp, his shirt clinging to his chest where the storm had caught him halfway across the courtyard. “You’d think the heavens are trying to wash us clean.”“Maybe they are,” Lyra said softly, her gaze still fixed on the world beyond the glass.Kael moved closer, his boots silent against the wooden floor. He stopped beside her, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from him, groundin