All Chapters of Rejected by the alpha, claimed by his brother : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

90 Chapters

71 The Day They Turned On Me

Aric’s POVEveryone rose immediately, not out of loyalty, but out of obligation and fear.Chairs scraped back in a jagged symphony. Robes swished. Shoes clicked into formation.Damon bowed deeply, his head bent so low it was almost desperate.Selene’s absence lingered in my mind like a phantom, but it was Ivana who stood in her place—dipping into a graceful curtsy, the kind that was technically perfect but spiritually mocking.Ministers, advisors, and guards aligned themselves in neat rows, their performance of reverence polished through generations of survival.I bowed last. Slowly. Always slowly.The King’s eyes flicked toward me briefly. It was only a fraction of a second, but I had spent a lifetime being dissected in those glances.The tension in his jaw told me everything:He didn’t want me here.But he needed me here.A contradiction that had defined most of my life.“Be seated,” he commanded.The murmurs died instantly, like someone had snuffed the air out of the room.The court

72: The King’s Unspoken War

Aric’s POVThe chamber was still vibrating with the aftershock of Ivana’s poison when the next blow came.I hadn’t even settled back into myself—hadn’t finished dragging air into lungs that still burned with restrained fury—when a man three seats down turned sharply.Toward Leonard Montclaire.Toward a man who had once commanded unquestioned respect.Toward the father of the woman they were now tearing apart.Toward a man who had already lost too much.“Lord Montclaire,” the minister said, voice too loud—too proud—swollen with cowardice dressed up as courage, “perhaps you should advise your daughter to think of the survival of her country… and stop bedding her husband’s older brother.”The room froze. Not figuratively.Completely. Breaths stalled mid-inhale.Quills stilled against parchment. Even the guards at the doors seemed to forget how to move.Leonard’s fingers twitched against the carved arm of his chair. Just once.A small, betraying tremor from a man raised to stand unshaken—

73: The King’s Unspoken War II

Aric’s POV The court session dragged for hours. Voices rose and fell like a storm tide—crashing, retreating, crashing again—never settling, never resolving. Papers were waved through the air. Some in anger. Some in desperation. Accusations followed. Sharp. Precise. Poisoned. Each one aimed not to solve—but to wound. Ministers snapped at one another like feral dogs fighting over scraps of influence. Advisors leaned close, muttering behind guarded hands. Even the scribes looked strained, their fingers stiff as they recorded arguments that had no place in a royal chamber. The entire hall suffocated under its own incompetence. Eventually, the King lifted a hand. Just one. Weary. “Enough,” he said. “We will continue this tomorrow. Court is adjourned.” The shift was immediate. Everyone bowed. Everyone exhaled. Everyone left with a little less dignity than they came in with. I rose from my seat— And felt it instantly. Damon. His gaze burned into my back, heavy enough to make the

74: The Night of Masks and Betrayals

Aric’s POVThere were nights in Eldenwald when the palace gleamed so brilliantly it erased every shadow.Nights when chandeliers burned like dying constellations overhead.Nights when marble floors shone as though the ghosts of kings still knelt to polish them.Nights when silk-draped walls, perfumed corridors, and gilded staircases whispered the same polished lie—That the kingdom was whole. Stable. Untouched.Tonight was one of those nights.But I had lived within these walls far too long to be deceived.Beneath the glitter and orchestral swell—beneath the clinking of crystal glasses and the carefully measured laughter—beneath conversations dressed up to pretend the drought was nothing more than an inconvenient rumor—There was something else. Something sharper.Fear.It lingered in the air with a metallic edge, subtle but unmistakable.It gathered in corners like a storm waiting to break.It pulsed beneath every “Your Highness,” every practiced bow, every smile stretched just a f

75: The Night of Masks and Betrayals II

Aric’s POVThe absence gnawed at me.Relentless. I hated that it did.Hated that she could do this—tear through the distance I had built, piece by piece, stone by stone, over years of survival.But the truth was unavoidable. From the moment she whispered—“Aric… it’s me.” through that fragile, stolen call…Something in me had shifted. Something old.Something fortified.Something that had been built to protect me—Now turning outward.Toward her.The ministers kept talking.“…if we invest now, the northern farmlands might recover—”“…Belmont is withholding grain exports—the shipments have already been delayed—”“…perhaps a joint water venture with the Longmans—”Their voices blurred into a dull, persistent hum.Like insects circling a flame.I forced myself to remain still. To appear engaged.To act like a prince whose world wasn’t quietly unraveling behind palace walls.But the truth was simple.I didn’t care. Not about their proposals. Not about their desperate strategies.Not about the mas

76: The Chains They Tried to Forge

Aric’s POVThe announcement struck the room like a blade drawn slowly across glass, soft at first, then sharp enough to cut through the air and leave the echoes bleeding.“Lady Nala Longman, and her uncle, Kent Longman!”My stomach tightened.Of course.Of course this was why the King insisted on my presence. Why he demanded I attend. Why he dressed the invitation in urgency and importance. It had never been about diplomacy or unity or celebration.He had lured me here.Fed me praise.Paraded me beneath chandeliers and cameras.Positioned me on a pedestal for the entire kingdom to watch.All so he could box me into a corner.Blindside me.Force my hand using the throne as leverage and the press as chains.The crowd shifted. The murmurs grew louder, like the tensions beneath Eldenwald’s marble foundations had suddenly found their voices. Damon lowered his head slightly, his posture bending beneath the weight of something only he understood. Ivana’s smirk widened, not gracefully, but cr

77: The Chains They Tried to Forge II

Aric’s POVThe King stood nearby, his approving nods fueling the ministers’ enthusiasm. They looked at him the way desperate men look at a torch in the dark, not because it offers warmth, but because it offers survival. To them, tonight was a triumph.They saw a saviour in me.A prince securing an alliance with Belmonte strong enough to keep Eldenwald from collapsing under the weight of drought and political decay.A prince choosing duty over desire.They cheered for me.Cheered for a future I never chose. Cheered for a lie choreographed behind silk curtains.And all I could think was:Selene. Selene. Selene.Her face.Her voice trembling against the static of Diana’s phone.Her breath hitching as she whispered my name.The quiet fear threaded through her question—the fear she tried to hide even from herself.“Aric… is there something you want to tell me?”I had never hated a room more in my life.The lights, the music, the applause, the watching eyes—all of it blurred into a nauseating

78: Imbroglio of the Heart

Selene’s POVI knew about the gala. Of course I did.Every servant whispered about it.Every guard polished their boots with unusual urgency.Every corridor hummed with the kind of tension that only surfaced when the palace needed to pretend everything was perfect.Even the flowers around the fountain in the east courtyard looked unnaturally bright, like someone had dragged sunlight across their petals and forced them to bloom faster just to uphold the illusion of grandeur.Eldenwald was always best at illusions.But I wasn’t invited.And for the first time in my life, being excluded from a royal event felt like mercy.I didn’t want makeup painted over my sadness. I didn’t want jewels hanging at my throat like the weight of expectation.I didn’t want eyes crawling over me like insects, dissecting my humiliation between sips of wine and artificial laughter.I didn’t want to face anyone.Not after everything. Not while my heart still felt cracked open with a hammer.So I remained in my r

79: Imbroglio of the Heart II

Selene’s POV“It will be a huge downgrade, my lady. You know this court. They’ll call you names. They’ll treat you like you’re nothing. Competing with Nala Longman? Being compared publicly? Constantly? It will break you,” Diana said.Her words felt like blunt blows landing one after the other. Each one hurt, but each one was true. And the truth was always an unforgiving weapon in this palace.More tears gathered.Hot. Heavy.Exhausting.“And besides,” Diana continued, rubbing my shoulder gently, “you know the King. He will not allow you to marry Aric. Ever. Even if you’re free. Aric is his favourite, and to the King you are tainted. The court won’t allow it either. Not after the scandal. You know how they think.”“I know,” I whispered.The words tasted like blood. Like something inside me was severing itself to make space for this acceptance.“Even if you leave Damon,” she went on, her voice soft but mercilessly rational, “Aric will have to marry Nala. Eventually. And even if he loves

80: The Weight of a Crown I Never Wanted

Aric’s POVThe night air felt colder than usual.Or maybe it was simply the hollow rage settling beneath my ribs as the car sped through the capital, the city lights streaming past the windows like shards of broken gold. Everything blurred outside, but inside me there was only clarity—sharp, merciless, suffocating clarity.Every breath tasted metallic.Every heartbeat felt like it scraped against bone.I dialled Diana again.No answer. I tried once more. Still nothing.My jaw clenched as the ringing echoed in my ear, each tone sinking deeper into the place where panic and fury intertwined. I could picture the palace—the tall stone walls, the serpentine corridors, the guarded doors—and Selene somewhere inside it, watching the broadcast that was never meant to reach her eyes.The broadcast of that woman standing beside me.The broadcast of my father’s trap.My hands curled into fists so tight the leather seat creaked beneath them.He did it perfectly. Too perfectly.Cornered me. Humiliat

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