All Chapters of The Professor's Mate Clause : Chapter 141 - Chapter 145

AURORA'S POVAshveil territory doesn't look like I expected.I'd pictured something bleak, given everything I'd read in the briefing files... a court built on refusal, on twenty years of turning down every hand my parents ever offered. Instead the road winds through forest so dense the canopy blots out the sky, and when it finally opens, the fortress rising on the far ridge looks less like a stronghold and more like something grown out of the mountain itself, all dark stone and sharp lines softened by moss and ivy."It's beautiful," I say, before I can stop myself."Don't let the King hear you say that," Kai murmurs. "Might ruin his whole reputation."The summit hall is smaller than I expected too... a long room with a carved table running its length, windows open to the mountain air instead of sealed behind glass like every Council chamber I've ever sat in. Elder Miriam's assistant briefs us one final time in the corridor outside, reminding me of protocol, of the delicate history be

AURORA'S POVThe dinner is worse than I expected, and I'd expected it to be bad.The great hall is packed with Ashveil nobility, long tables lit by torches instead of the sterile lighting I'm used to in Council chambers, and every single person in the room watches me the way you'd watch something that wandered in off the road and might be dangerous."You're doing great," Kai murmurs beside me, not remotely convincingly."I can feel them staring.""They're definitely staring.""That's not helpful.""I'm not here to be helpful. I'm here for moral support and free food." He steals a roll off my plate, entirely unbothered by the hostile atmosphere in a way I deeply envy. "Also that guy at the end of the table has been glaring at you since we sat down. Might want to address that before he starts something."I follow his gaze to a broad-shouldered Lycan noble near the head of the table, arms crossed, expression somewhere between contempt and open challenge. When he catches me looking, he d

AURORA'S POV"You must be the ambassador everyone's talking about."I look up from my documents to find a man I haven't met yet standing at the edge of the garden, dark-haired, sharply dressed, with an easy smile that doesn't quite match the calculating look underneath it. He carries himself like someone used to being watched and enjoying it."That depends what they're saying," I reply."Mostly that you held your ground against half the court at dinner without breaking a sweat. That's rare, for a Council delegate." He crosses the garden and takes the seat Kade vacated less than an hour ago, uninvited but not unwelcome, exactly. "Draven Ashveil. Kade's cousin."Something in my chest goes carefully alert. I remember the name from my briefing files — a noble with a claim to the throne that never materialized, close enough to Kade's inner circle to matter, distant enough to be worth watching."Aurora Reed-Metcalfe.""I know who you are." His smile widens slightly. "Everyone in this fortr