All Chapters of THE ALPHA'S ASSASSIN MATE: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

I walked into the steward’s office because he said Aziel wanted routine records updated and I believed him for exactly two seconds and then he closed the door behind me and he did it slowly and he fixed that quiet neat smile on me and I knew this was not routine at all and I just stayed there because running would look worse“And you came from the countryside yes” he said while shuffling papers that were already straight and I said yes even though my voice caught a little and he certainly heard it since his eyes flicked up at me although he pretended they didn’t“And your father was a hunter and your mother was a seamstress or was it the other way around because I think you said something different last week although I could be mistaken since people talk quickly when they’re new and nervous and sweating like you are right now” he kept talking in that soft tone like he was discussing the weather not dissecting me and I told him my father was a hunter yes and my mother sewed clothes som

Aziel’s povI went to the memorial because I needed silence and I needed it the way some men need air and I stood there staring at the carved stone with my father’s name and titles even though half those titles were bought with other people’s blood and the room felt too quiet because grief always made space feel larger than it should be and I hated that it could still pull at me.I told myself I wasn’t here to mourn him and I told myself I came only because the council was clawing at my patience and I needed to breathe and yet my hands shook just a little the way they used to when he called me to stand before him and wait for judgment that never made sense to anyone but him.I touched the edge of the memorial and I said softly “You’d have loved this mess wouldn’t you” and I laughed under my breath because the man thrived on chaos and cruelty and I could still hear his voice telling me that mercy was weakness and forgiveness was a fool’s weapon and that a crown stayed on only when ever

Lyra’s POVThe storm came before anyone could say it was coming, though calling it a storm felt too polite because it slammed into the keep like the sky wanted to punish everyone and it didn’t care who it hit first or whether we were ready for it, and it shoved the walls so hard that bowls on the shelves rattled, snow piled against the windows so fast it looked like someone had grabbed a brush and was painting the world white and painting it angrily.By midmorning the outer roads were gone beneath sheets of snow taller than horses, and the patrols stumbled back half-frozen, muttering about drifts that swallowed the north road whole, supply lines cut in a few hours and no one knew how deep yet.Everyone knew what that meant, even before the kitchen stewards started whispering around ledgers and frost-caked windows.Food would run thin and tempers thinner.I was feeling the edges of it as I stood in the hallway outside the stores and listened to two soldiers arguing about ration cuts wi

Aziel’s POVThe storm still hadn’t eased by the time midnight dragged itself across the sky, and the keep felt half-asleep and half-ready to explode. Snow beat against the windows in steady angry bursts, and every torch in the hallways flickered like it wanted to give up. It was the perfect hour to call a council no one could publicly deny but everyone would pretend they hadn’t attended.I hadn’t slept.Didn’t bother trying.Too many pieces were sliding across the board and none of them were where I’d left them.The inner war room was cold when I slipped inside, the hearth barely alive. I didn’t light more fire. Shadows made it easier to speak truths no one wanted attached to official daylight. And the people I’d summoned filtered in one by one, each looking more worn than the last, brushing snow off cloaks and shaking tension out of their shoulders.Orlan came first, silent and unreadable, like he’d been carved out of that cold hearthstone. Then Lyria from Westwatch, her braid tangle

Lyra’s povOrlan cornered me before I even realized the hallway was empty and he did it with that steady expression that always made me feel like he was looking straight through my skin and into every lie I ever rehearsed yet I forced my face calm because panic only made men like him lean in harder.He said my name softly and told me we needed to talk because things were getting dangerous and I almost laughed even though nothing about this mess was funny since danger had been my constant roommate from the second I stepped into this palace pretending to be harmless.I told him I was busy but he didn’t move and instead he said we could either talk here where the walls had ears or we could move somewhere slightly less suicidal and honestly I hated how right he was so I followed him into a small storage room that smelled like dust and old linen.The door shut and he faced me and he said the words in that low steady voice of his that always refused to crack even when the world was falling