All Chapters of THE LYCAN'S SACRIFICE, Fated To The Beast. : Chapter 141 - Chapter 150

Elvanya’s PovI heard the street collapse from three floors up and I knew Eldric was still out there but I also knew from the sounds that the Changeling had gotten through. I grabbed Luna from the crib and told Mira to lock the door and I ran.The corridor was empty. Most of the guards had been pulled to the walls or to the street where Eldric was fighting and there was no one left in this part of the palace. I moved fast with Luna against my chest and her moon mark warm through my shirt.I needed somewhere to go. Going back to Mira's room made no sense because if the Changeling got past Eldric that was the first place it would look. I kept moving toward the far end of the corridor and took the staircase down to the lower hall.Between the first and second time I heard the palace sounds change I had maybe two minutes to move. I knew that and I moved as fast as I could while holding a nine month old baby and trying not to fall down a staircase. The lower corridor smelled like smoke fro

Kael’s PovThe assault slowed before I reached the northern gate again. Word travels through an army the way water moves through cracked stone and something had shifted in the Old Guard camp even before any formal news reached them. Warriors were pulling back from ladder positions on their own. Officers were standing still instead of relaying orders. The pressure we had been holding against all day went loose and then looser and by the time I reached the gate the fight was clearly ending.A white flag came out of the camp before the sun reached the horizon.Not the same rider as the parley. This was one of Harken's senior officers and he came forward alone and he had the look of a man walking out of somewhere dark into daylight and still adjusting to the difference."Lord Harken is requesting to speak with the king," he said. "He is asking for terms."I went to the gate.Harken came forward on foot and alone and

Elvanya’s PovIt started two days after she drove the Changeling out of the throne room.She said her first full sentence to Mira while I was down the hall and Mira came to find me looking like she had seen something she could not explain. I went back to the room and Luna was sitting up in the crib looking at me and she said "Mama I am hungry" in a voice that was still small but clear. Clear the way a three year old is clear not the way a ten month old is clear.I fed her and did not say anything about it.By the end of that week she was putting sentences together faster than I could track. Not babbling. Full thoughts connected properly with the right words in the right order. By the end of the second week she was asking questions that required answers I had to think about."Why do people fight," she asked me one morning while I was braiding her hair."Because they are afraid," I said. "Or because they want some

Elvanya’s PovIt was a routine advisory meeting and I would not have noticed anything if Luna had not been in the room.Kael had started bringing her to some of the smaller meetings because Eldric said her presence made it easier to read the room and because Luna herself seemed to want to understand what governing looked like. She sat in my lap and looked at things with her too-old eyes and mostly stayed quiet.Marcus was three seats down from Kael and he was talking about trade route recovery now that the siege damage was being addressed. He was calm and clear the way he always was. Marcus had been on the council for six years and he had a reputation for being the most level-headed voice in any room.I was half listening to him and half watching Luna and that was when I noticed it.Luna was looking at Marcus. She did that with everyone in a room. She looked at each person with the careful attention of someone reading some

Elvanya’s Pov The messenger arrived at the front gate at midday on a clear afternoon with no warning and no escort and no face. A guard came to find me because Kael was in the eastern hall with the outer council representatives and the guard said there was something at the gate that I should see before we decided who to bring it to. I went to the gate. It was standing in the middle of the road about ten feet from the gate and the gate was closed and the guards on the wall had arrows drawn but had not released. I understood why when I got close enough to see it. It was shaped like a person. The right height and the right proportions and it was wearing something that suggested clothing without being any specific kind of clothing. But above the collar where a face should have been there was nothing. Smooth and blank and the color of something that has never seen light. Not a mask. Just the absenc