Semua Bab Rejected Omega Princess: Meet My Overprotective Brothers: Bab 31 - Bab 40

The world didn’t stay quiet about Mooncrest’s miracle for long.You couldn’t drag a lost princess out of a smuggler’s wagon, light up an ancestral relic in full view of a court, and declare her off‑limits to the pack that tried to sell her without people talking.And in packs like these, talk meant politics.***I learned that the hard way three days after the ritual, when Mira led me to the council gallery.“Prince Alden thought you might want to listen,” she said, lowering her voice as we climbed the narrow stairs. “You don’t have to sit at the table, but you shouldn’t be shut out.”The idea of being anywhere near a room full of nobles arguing over my fate again made my stomach knot.But Alden had promised I wouldn’t be kept in the dark, not like Bloodthorn’s kitchen corners.So I followed.The gallery was a narrow balcony that wrapped around the upper edge of the great hall, screened by carved lattice. From here, I could see down into the chamber without being obvious. I could also

For a second that felt like it stretched between worlds, Kael’s eyes locked with mine.Silver, like mine—but different. Harder. Older. Framed by angles honed by command and war.My mark exploded under my skin.Not in pain. Not exactly.Heat roared through my wrist, up my arm, through my chest. It felt like someone had pressed a brand to my bones and then poured molten light through every vein.I sucked in a sharp breath, fingers digging into the stone rail.Below, the murmur of the courtyard dulled, as if someone had stuffed wool in my ears. The clank of armor, the snort of horses, the distant shout of a stablehand—all of it receded under a single, pounding rhythm.Not mine.Not entirely.A second pulse slammed into me from a different angle.Same mark. Different flavor.Wilder. Warmer. A flash of startled delight instead of icy shock.Rian’s gaze had followed Kael’s upward, landing on me a heartbeat later.His mouth parted, and usual playfulness wiped clean by raw astonishment before

By the time the last course was cleared, my nerves felt frayed down to threads.Courtiers trickled away in small clusters, their whispers trailing behind them. Some threw speculative glances my way as they left—measured, hungry, wary. Nightveil’s twins lingered in low conversation with Alden and Jax near the far end of the table, posture relaxed and ready at once.I couldn’t stand another minute in that room.“I’m going to… get some air,” I murmured to Theron as I rose.His eyes flicked over my face—reading the tension in my jaw, the way my fingers still pressed against my palm where Rian’s had been.“Take a guard,” he said.“Two are already trailing me,” I replied. “I’ll try not to stab anyone before midnight.”Rowan’s snort followed me out.***The gardens behind the castle were quieter at night.Moonlight silvered the pathways, painting the gravel pale and the hedges dark. Bare branches of winter‑stripped trees reached up like bony fingers, their shadows long and skeletal against t

By the next morning, the bruises from Jax’s “gentle” instruction had bloomed nicely.I rolled my shoulder experimentally as I stepped into the training yard again. It pulled, but didn’t scream.Progress.The yard was busier than usual.Word had spread.Mooncrest warriors, Nightveil soldiers, and even a few high‑ranking onlookers lined the edges. The air buzzed with anticipation.“They’re going to try something stupid,” Rowan murmured at my elbow as we stepped onto the sand. “I can smell it.”“Define stupid,” I said.“Anything that involves Kael, weapons, and teaching moments,” he replied. “Or Rian and his ego.”I snorted.My mark hummed, twitchy and alert under my sleeve.“Morning, Princess,” Jax called. “Ready to be a test case?”“I thought that’s what I’ve been every day,” I said.“Today’s different,” he replied.He wasn’t wrong.Kael and Rian were already in the yard, cloaks shed, and practice swords in hand. Their presence shifted the atmosphere in a way that even Alden’s didn’t.

The seer’s words clung to me like damp cloth.Burn if claimed as an object.Shatter if left unclaimed.Only choices freely made can break the last threads of the curse.Everyone had looked at me after that.My brothers. The Nightveil twins. The seer. Even the guards at the door, as if my answer might fall out of my mouth immediately and rearrange all their lives.I did the only thing I could in that moment.I left.***Avoiding people in a castle this full was an art.Luckily—or unluckily—I’d grown up invisible. Moving quietly. Slipping where others weren’t looking.Now, ironically, that skill helped me hide from the people who refused to let me be invisible anymore.I skipped training once.Jax found me anyway and politely didn’t mention the way my hands shook when I picked up the staff.I stopped joining the brothers for dinner in the smaller family room. Mira brought trays to my chamber instead.“You should eat with them,” she said, fretting. “They worry.”“They’ve been worrying si