All Chapters of Whispers of Loyalty: Chapter 161 - Chapter 170

ZACHI don’t think I’ve slept more than an hour straight in a week.It’s not the war that keeps me awake—that I understand. That I can plan for, bleed for, kill for.It’s the quiet moments. The pauses. The calm before someone pulls the trigger.That’s where doubt lives.And doubt is the only thing sharper than a blade.The morning air tasted like metal and rain when I stepped onto the terrace again before dawn. Same place as yesterday. Same stance. Same world on fire disguised as peace.Below, the estate churned with silent movement—guards rotating shifts, hellhounds exchanging intel without looking at each other, carrier pigeons of information flying hand-to-hand in envelopes sealed like coffins.A kingdom running off instinct and blood memory.Our kingdom.And God help anyone who tried to take it from us now.I heard her before I saw her—barefoot steps on cold stone, slower this time. Thoughtful. Controlled.“Do you ever get tired of greeting the sun like it owes you answers?” Alana

ALANABy dawn, the air still tasted like smoke and iron.The sky over the estate had gone that bruised gray color—the kind that looks quiet until you realize it’s just holding its breath before the storm breaks again.I hadn’t slept. Neither had Zach.But he pretended to, stretched on the couch in my office, one arm thrown over his eyes, boots still on. The sight almost made me smile. We both knew what that was—control disguised as exhaustion.He wasn’t resting. He was listening. Waiting.Like a wolf pretending to nap while the forest burns.I turned back to the reports on my desk. Leone’s bomb had missed our heart but cracked one of the outer arteries. Supply line delays. Four wounded. Two dead. Loyal men. Ones who believed in us, who built this empire knowing the risk.Their names bled ink across the paper.And that was all I could stand before the words turned to noise.I shut the file.Zach stirred. “You’re not going to stop, are you?”I didn’t turn. “Would you?”A low sound—half

ALANAPower has a strange taste.People think it’s metallic like blood or intoxicating like victory.But to me—it tasted like breath finally filling my lungs after years of drowning.It tasted like waking.Leone’s fall wasn’t the end.It wasn’t even the beginning.It was the moment the world stopped pretending I was anything other than what I was meant to be.A ruler.A legacy.A weapon wrapped in silk and bone.But even queens bleed.And even queens get tired.⸻I stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror in our room just past dawn.The estate was quiet, the kind of quiet that feels intentional—as if everyone breathed softer in the wake of what Zach and I had done.My hair was down, wild from hours of running my fingers through it after the war-room meetings. My hands were steady now, but earlier, they hadn’t been. The adrenaline crash had hit hard. Too hard.I could feel the tremor beneath my skin, like I’d swallowed lightning and it couldn’t find a way out.Zach was asleep on t

ALANAThe celebration was never meant to feel like a celebration.Not really.It was supposed to be a victory—our victory.Leone was gone. A major enemy eliminated. The estate was secure again, or at least that’s what everyone whispered to one another like they needed the lie to breathe.But every step down the grand staircase felt like descending into a room waiting to swallow me whole.The chandelier glowed too brightly, a thousand crystals catching the light like shattered glass suspended in the air. The murmur of voices swelled beneath it—soldiers, advisors, allies from old bloodlines I only half trusted. Their laughter felt brittle. Their smiles felt forced.And through all of it, Zach’s hand wrapped around mine.Grounding.Possessive.Warm.But even with his fingers locked between mine, his body was tense—every muscle on alert, his gaze tracking every unfamiliar movement in the room. He wasn’t celebrating.He was hunting.Gia intercepted us halfway down with a glass already in h

ALANABy sunrise, the estate no longer felt like the home I had grown up in.It felt like a mausoleum waiting for its next body.The halls were too quiet. The air too heavy. Every shadow felt like the shape of a threat. And everywhere I turned, I saw the same thing—fear disguised as discipline. Guards standing a little too straight. Advisors speaking a little too softly. Staff averting their eyes as if looking at me too long might curse them.But the strangest part wasn’t them.It was me.Because somewhere deep beneath my ribs, something cold had settled.Not dread.Not fear.Recognition.Like I’d known this moment was coming long before it arrived.I just didn’t know why.Not yet.⸻Zach hadn’t slept. I heard him pacing long before I opened my eyes. When I turned my head on the pillow, he was standing near the windows, shirtless, arms crossed, jaw clenched so tightly the muscle ticked. Dawn light cut across his back, tracing the scars I knew by heart.My protector.My weapon.My ruin