Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 81 - Chapitre 90

I could not sleep again this night, its been that way for a while now, so I turned over for what felt like the hundredth time, punching my pillow before glaring at the ceiling."This is ridiculous."It had been three days since I stopped serving Prince Caleb, but who was counting? I had insisted on being reassigned, and he had agreed without even arguing. That part still hurt because I had expected him to stop me.To question me and tell me no.Instead... "Very well."That had been all. No anger or possessiveness. Nothing. I laughed bitterly into the darkness."Congratulations, Gina. You finally escaped the terrifying prince."Why did it feel so awful? Because every night since then, I had dreamed of him.His silver eyes, his voice, his hands, his forehead resting against mine. His whispered confession."If I lose control around you... I don't know what I'll become."I buried my face beneath the blanket. "Stop thinking about him."“Mine...”I froze. My heartbeat stopped."Bey?"Unlike

POV: CalebThe king’s summons woke me up after another restless night.No attendant knocked twice at my door before my usual time unless someone had died or the kingdom was burning.So, when Marlow rapped once, softly, and said only, "The King requests you in his study," I was already reaching for a shirt before I had fully processed the words.I expected the talks on succession and the betrothal that was in the works. The same conversation my parents have been pressing in their own ways.My mother, graceful and exacting, kept dropping hints about dynastic alliances and the importance of appearances, while my father asked pointed questions about loyalty, legacy, and whether I was ready to carry the weight that came with his crown.I did not expect to find my father standing at the window of his study in last night's clothes. He was unshaven and staring out at the tree line of the royal forest like it had personally offended him."Father."He didn't turn immediately. That alone told me

POV: GinaThe guards didn't notice me at first. That was the useful thing about being a maid: people talked over you like furniture, right up until the moment they remembered that furniture doesn't usually blink."—footprints weren't hers, though. That's the part nobody's saying out loud.""How do you know they weren't hers?""Because these ones were there before she ever went in. Days before. The King said so himself."I stopped walking. The linens in my arms suddenly felt very heavy."Said so to who?""Varric. Who said it to half the guard captains, who apparently can't keep their mouths shut, which is how I know.""So, who was in there first?""That's the part nobody's saying."I made myself keep walking before they noticed me standing there like a woman who'd just had the floor pulled out from under her. Somebody else had crossed those wards before I ever set foot near them. Somebody the King hadn't caught, who was, presumably, still walking around this palace right now, unremarka

POV: GinaBy the time I reached the servant hall for the evening meal, the whole kitchen already knew three different versions of what had happened to the border patrol, and none of them agreed with each other."—said one of them just started screaming about ants under his skin—"That stopped me cold in the doorway."—no, that's not right, that was the maids in the east corridor weeks back, this is different, this one's about a girl with wolf's eyes standing next to a lord—""Same thing, probably. Cursed, all of it."I made myself keep walking, seeking an empty bench instead of standing there like a woman who'd just been personally named in a rumor without anyone saying her name at all.“Ants under the skin,” Bey said. “That's what we did to those maids.”"I know what we did."“So, you understand why that's an uncomfortable thing to overhear twice in one conversation.”"I understand perfectly, thank you."I sat down across from an older maid named Petra, who barely glanced up from her

POV: CalebThe council chamber was already half full of raised voices by the time I arrived, which told me everything about how the morning was going to go before I'd even taken my seat."—a formal date, Your Majesty, or the Vale family will begin to wonder if this kingdom takes its own commitments seriously—"That was Lord Ashworth, my mother's favorite mouthpiece for exactly this argument, delivered in the particular tone of a man who'd rehearsed it in front of a mirror."The Vale family can wonder whatever it likes," my mother said, from the head of the table, in a voice that could have frozen the tea in every cup in the room. "Betrothals are not decided because of anyone's impatience.""With respect, Your Majesty, the betrothal negotiations have been 'progressing' for the better part of a year with nothing to show for it."I sat down without announcing myself, which didn't stop every head at the table from tu