CHAPTER 31

The Queen Dowager noticed everything.It was her gift, honed over forty years in a palace where survival depended on reading shifts in power before they became obvious. She noticed when servants whispered differently. When guards changed their patterns. When her son stopped meeting her eyes at breakfast.She especially noticed when the fox stopped appearing at Corvin's side.For weeks, Elowen had been a constant presence. In council meetings, though silent. At formal dinners, seated at Corvin's right hand. Walking the gardens in the early morning when the king needed to think. And then, suddenly, nothing. The fox vanished from public view like smoke dispersing on wind.The official explanation was injury. An attack, the rumors said. The creature had been wounded and was recovering in the royal wing. Simple, and believable enough.The Queen Dowager did not believe it for a moment.She sat in h

CHAPTER 32

The decision came on day eight of their new arrangement.Elowen had settled into the rhythm of monitored freedom. Mornings in the library, reading histories he had never cared about before. Afternoons in the private gardens, walking prescribed paths under the watchful eyes of guards who pretended not to follow him. Evenings alone in his chamber, eating dinner in silence and watching the door for a visitor who never came.Corvin maintained the boundaries he had set with surgical precision. They saw each other during Theon's verification sessions, which had become exercises in clinical detachment. The mage would cast his truth spells, Elowen would answer questions about shifter movements, clan politics, and Corvin would sit in the corner taking notes like a scholar rather than a lover.They did not touch, allow their eyes to linger, or acknowledge the weight of everything unspoken between them.It was painful but sustainable. And then Tavris ruined it.Elowen was in the library when th

CHAPTER 33

The visions began changing on the third night of shared chambers.Corvin woke to golden light burning behind his eyes, Crown Sight activating without his conscious will. It happened sometimes, when his mind was too restless to maintain the barriers that kept the magic contained. Usually, he saw fragments of possible futures. Court conspiracies forming. Border skirmishes escalating. A thousand small decisions branching into chaos.Tonight, he saw Elowen.The vision was different from any Crown Sight had shown him before. It was not blank, or void. Instead, Elowen's inner world opened like a book written in light and shadow.Corvin gasped, sitting upright in bed. Across the room, Elowen stirred but did not wake.Crown Sight showed him everything.He saw Elowen lying in the dark, staring at the ceiling. But Crown Sight peeled back the physical and revealed what lay beneath. Emotion, raw and overwhelming. Love so fierce it hurt to witness. Guilt coiled like a serpent around Elowen's heart

All Chapters of Caged by a King: Chapter 31 - Chapter 33

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32

CHAPTER 33