All Chapters of Marked By The Cursed Alpha Prince: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

LAYLAThe moment I lifted my head from the table, my eyes widening in a daze, I found Prince Lucian standing before me, tall and calm as ever, his presence filling the dining hall with that quiet and dominating aura he carried like a second skin. For a heartbeat, I wondered if I was still dreaming, so I blinked rapidly, rubbing my eyes, trying to force the haze of sleep from them.“Oh,” I muttered at last, my voice embarrassingly soft, “it’s you.”His expression didn’t shift, but something in the air did, as if the temperature dropped by a single degree. “If I am late for dinner,” he said, his tone deceptively gentle and but carrying the authority of a man who rarely repeated himself, “you shall not wait for me.”I frowned, because what kind of strange instruction was that? “Why would I wait?” I asked, a little defensive. “I was hungry. I had a heavy meal earlier, and after walking all day, I came here to sit for a moment and ended up falling asleep.” I shrugged, trying to sound casu

Layla The moment the arrows sliced through the air toward us, everything happened so fast that for a heartbeat I could not understand whether it was real or just my imagination running wild on my wedding day, but then a tall figure appeared out of nowhere and stepped between us and death, holding a long iron shield that he lifted with one smooth motion to block the first wave of arrows, and only then did I realise that those arrows were not aimed at me alone but at the others around me as well.The man was masked, his face hidden, and he carried himself like someone who had spent years fighting battles, and without saying a single word, he joined Sir Calhoun and began fighting the cavalry that burst out from the trees.The noise was deafening with swords clashing and men shouting. The forest echoed like an angry beast, and I did what I always did when danger cornered me. I reached for the needles hidden in the pockets of my wedding gown.I threw them one after another with controlled

Lucian“This is?” I asked Layla quietly as the towering man stepped fully into view. I had noticed him during the wedding, guiding my bride to the altar with a confidence that did not belong to a commoner, but the chaos of the ceremony had left me with no time to question who he was or why he was there. I had sensed that something was wrong that day, but the wedding had to proceed, and so I had held my tongue. Now that the ceremony was over, I could finally ask what had happened in my absence.Layla looked between us before speaking. “This is Gamma Lewis. He saved us when we were attacked on the forest road. He fought the entire cavalry alone and brought us here safely.”I nodded slowly, measuring the man with my eyes. Broad shoulders, controlled movements, and an old, battle-worn gaze, he was no ordinary wanderer. “Thank you, Mr. Lewis,” I said.“Your Highness.” He bowed with surprising grace for someone who looked as though he lived in the wilderness.His posture, his aura told me t

Layla My mind could not leave the strange dream that had wrapped itself around me last night, and even when the sun rose, its golden light touching every corner of my chamber, I could still feel the cold wind from that cliff, I could still see those glowing wolf-eyes staring directly at me, and I could still hear the echo of that howl that felt like it came from inside my own chest, as if it belonged to me and not the creature in the dream. My head kept replaying it again and again, and no matter how much I tried to push it away, the sound clung to me like a shadow.I looked down at the wine glass in my hand, surprised because I rarely drank wine unless forced by politeness, and I preferred sweet drinks like honey water or berry syrup, and I had no idea when this wine would reach my lips. Before I could say anything, Lucian’s voice was heard. “Don’t pour her more wine,” he said.I lifted my eyes and found him looking straight at me, and for a second, the whole room paused. His ruby-

Layla“What do you think of Princess Arielle?” I asked Daisy once the doors finally shut and the room exhaled, as if even the walls were relieved to stop pretending.Daisy stood by the window with arms crossed and jaw tight, watching the path Arielle had taken as though the woman’s shadow might crawl back in through the glass if we weren’t careful. “Oh, she’s beautiful,” Daisy said, rolling her eyes. “And she knows it. Gods, she fucking knows it. The kind that traps people just by blinking.”“The truth,” I said.Not loudly or angrily. Just enough edge to make Daisy straighten, because she knew that I didn’t want courtesy, or politeness, or the careful lies people told when they thought I was fragile.Everyone thought Arielle’s beauty bothered me. I stood beside her and felt like a chipped cup next to fine crystal. They whispered it behind stories and servant doors and thought I couldn’t hear, or wouldn’t understand the insult buried beneath their sympathy.Idiots.Her beauty didn’t m