All Chapters of Dear Mate, You’re Mine!: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

Unknown's POVI stood by the tall window, gloved hands behind my back, as I watched the rain.The rain had just begun-- light and sharp, the kind that stung the skin and cleansed nothing. My face was cloaked in darkness and shrouded with something darker.“She’s getting close.”The voice came from the center of the room, where a man knelt-- one of my own, soaked, panting, blood trailing from his left shoulder.He had run too hard and too fast. For his life.To live was already losing your life, it came with the job. Investigations were ongoing and this was one of the reports.I didn’t turn to the man, I kept my gaze steadily fixed on the window. “Astra always had bite. I expected as much.” I flexed my wrist, "She's never been known to bark and no bite."“But they… they’ve uncovered part of the message center in the armory. The bait she set worked. Some of our transmissions--” the spy swallowed, “--might’ve been traced.”“I think she has silent operatives. I can't find how she did this

Astra's POVI sat at my desk, hunched over an old map of the known territories, ink smudged on my fingers, my eyes heavy with exhaustion but my mind spinning like a wheel at full speed.A knock.I didn’t even look up. "Enter."Jerome’s familiar boots hit the floor, slow and steady. He never came into a room without purpose. I felt his eyes on me before he even spoke."You haven’t slept," he said quietly, closing the door behind him."I’ve rested." I didn’t look up from the map, but I could feel his doubt thick in the air."You call pacing the halls with a sword at your waist ‘resting’?" He crossed the room, pulled out the chair opposite me and sat down, arms crossed.Okay, he was simply exaggerating now. I wasn't pacing the halls with a sword at my waist, at least I did that only once. When the inner fire alarms had gone off abruptly, well, thankfully it was just smoke and not necessarily an attack.We've had a few mock attacks over the pretext of the fire alarms. The fire alarms woul

Astra's POVI sat wiggling the short blade in my hand, I crossed my legs sinking into the chair, my head tilted to the left as I watched the bound prisoner sitting opposite me.His hands were cuffed to the back of his chair and the chain was wrapped round and round the chair. His legs too were tied tightly with a nick rope. He was lean and looked like he was asleep with his head lolled to one side."Time to wake, buttercup." I said, softly, staring at my nails.The guards got to work.A ridiculously loud bang, one that could even wake the dead.Our guy jolted. His eyes shot out, sharp and trained. Like he was used to this everyday drill. Like he was ready to hound someone.His eyes darted left and right, sharp and wide-eyed before his eyes slowly rested on my face then he morphed his face. Quickly sucking in his emotions and story. He looked like someone who could endure anything.I smirked and tapped my fingers lightly on the interrogation table before me.Jerome was leaning on the d

Astra's POV“Eran of the dusky brotherhood.”"What?" I whispered while simultaneously releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding.Phew, at least it wasn't Eran, my supreme guard.He swallowed, his eyes distant looking into the space. "Yes. Exactly what you heard."I felt a prick at the base of my neck, something about that name just didn't sit right.Nothing has ever felt right since the whole ambush started, this whole unrest in the capital started and now this?There arises a brotherhood I've never heard of until now? Things were getting more juicier yet scarier and I hate to admit that I was coming to my wit's end. I did not know what to do.Heck, I don't even know what I did to deserve any of this things.What in the fudge did I do to deserve having hidden networks like this masquerading as neutrality?I returned back to my seat and sighed heavily, biting my cheeks as my thought rounded.Dusky brotherhood. I thought.What a lousy name. If this was not a life and death issue, I

Jerome's POVI knew Astra would hate me for itThat's exactly why I didn't tell herI stood alone in the palace library. The only light came from the half-hazing Torchlight I kept on the desk. I shifted through old scrolls, parchment papers that had browned with age.I carefully cross-referenced records I had found that had sparse connections to the dusky brotherhood.A name came up again and again. It was not Mary's but a woman with her description.Not the Mary who served Astra now-- the sweet, shaky-voiced maid with trembling fingers and kind eyes but a sharper version of her. A shadow across time.I frowned, pulling the scroll closer.The name listed was Maera.A supposed recruit. Records of her said she had been trained as a handler-in-training. She was a trained guard, maybe a spy too. She knew codes and things way above kitchen level.She was listed as 'absent' after a purge which was actually a battle. She was assumed dead or at least, not existing."Dead," I muttered, leaning