Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Rejected Luna’s Secret Crown: Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

Silence on a mountain is never truly silent. There is always the wind.But as the rusted shards of the cursed sword settled into the dust, the wind across the plateau died completely. The unnatural, suffocating vacuum of the Void was gone. In its place was the raw, terrifying reality of what it had cost us.I was kneeling on the jagged volcanic rock. My right arm hung entirely useless at my side, the skin pale blue and dead to all sensation. I could not move my fingers. I could barely draw breath into my bruised lungs."Valen," I wheezed.I crawled over the sharp stones, dragging my dead arm behind me. My son was lying flat on his back, his arms thrown wide. I reached out with my left hand and touched his cheek.He was burning.It was not the warm, comforting heat of a sleeping child. It was the terrifying, radiating heat of a furnace on the verge of a meltdown. Valen had consumed the soul of a corrupted king and a thousand ancient warlords. His tiny five-year-old body was desperately

The smell of baking bread filled the Onyx Palace for the first time in five years.Kaelen had delivered a miracle. The Aurelian winter wheat was ground, kneaded, and pushed into the massive geothermal ovens before the sun even breached the horizon. By mid-morning, the sweet, heavy scent of yeast and warm grain drifted through the stone corridors, masking the lingering smell of dust and war.I stood on the Juliet balcony of our private chambers and looked down at the inner courtyard.Thousands of refugees were gathered below. They were huddled in thick, patchwork coats, holding out cloth sacks and wooden bowls, waiting for the distribution line to move. They looked cold and desperate. They looked exactly like the people I had sworn to protect.But as I slipped my hand into my pocket and felt the rough edge of Kaelen's warning letter, my stomach turned to lead.The art is learning to wear a smile."He is sleeping," Ashren said softly, stepping out onto the balcony behind me.My mate loo

The war room was silent. The only sound was the heavy rain lashing against the reinforced glass windows of the Onyx Palace.I stared at the puddle of melted gold cooling on the mahogany table. The architect had spoken directly into our home. He had declared checkmate while we were still trying to set up the board. He had Kaelen, and he had the Citadel.Ashren stood near the massive topographical map of the continent. His healed Alpha blood radiated a steady heat that warmed the damp air of the room. He placed both of his scarred hands flat on the parchment, his glowing golden eyes fixed entirely on the western coastline."The Architect is a scientist," Ashren stated quietly. "He operates on logic and variables. He told us he has Kaelen because he wants us to act irrationally. He wants us to rush the gates of the Citadel so his sleepers can detonate in our ranks.""He expects a frontal assault," Jinx agreed, leaning against the stone wall. She was methodically reloading the magazines o

The laboratory was a cathedral of glass and white marble, but it was quickly turning into a slaughterhouse.Hundreds of Aurelian sleepers moved toward the central medical dais. They did not sprint. They did not roar with the mindless fury of the feral beasts we had fought in the crypts. They walked with a terrifying, synchronized precision. Their bare feet slapped softly against the polished floor. Their pitch-black eyes were locked entirely on us, and the dark veins crawling up their necks pulsed with unstable, violet light."If we cut them, they detonate," I shouted over the hum of the failing generators. "If one explodes in here, the concussive force will trigger the rest. The entire cliffside will vaporize.""I cannot throw three hundred people out of a room that has no doors," Ashren growled. He planted his boots firmly on the top step of the dais, placing his massive body between the approaching horde and the injured prince.Kaelen leaned heavily against the steel operating tabl

The drive to Ironhold was a silent, bone-rattling nightmare.Ashren pushed the heavy armored rover to its absolute limits. The massive treads tore through the deep tundra snow, spitting ice and frozen mud into the dark. I sat in the passenger seat. I checked the edge of my broadsword for the fifth time.Jinx was in the gunner seat behind us. She was loading armor-piercing rounds into her rifle magazines. The metallic clack of the bullets sliding into place was the only sound over the roaring engine."We are ten miles out," Jinx reported over the comms. "Radar is picking up a massive thermal anomaly in the center of the prison ruins. It is not just a heat signature. It is a radiation bloom.""The Architect is tapping the leylines," Ashren grunted. He downshifted as the rover hit a steep, icy incline. "He is using the natural magical currents beneath the prison to amplify the blast radius."I looked out the reinforced windshield. The blizzard was thick, but the horizon was no longer bla