All Chapters of THE ALPHA’S QUIET TEMPTATION : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

LIORA’S POV The hunting grounds buzzed with excited energy as nobles gathered for the first official activity. My ankle throbbed despite the wrapping, but I’d refused to stay in my tent. Showing weakness now, after everything that had happened, felt like admitting defeat. “Teams of six!” the hunt moderator announced, his voice carrying across the assembly. “Choose your companions wisely. Points will be awarded based on the size and rarity of the game brought down.” People immediately began clustering together, alliances forming with the speed of longtime friendships and political convenience. “Liora!” Seraphin

LIORA’S POVI did not know what I was doing.That was the only honest thing I could say about it. My heart was slamming against my ribs and my skin felt like it had been turned inside out, every nerve ending raw and close to the surface, and I was standing in the water with my hands dropped to my sides and Lucas was staring at me like I had lost my mind.Maybe I had.I had never felt anything like this before. It was not the slow warmth I sometimes felt when he was near, the pull I had been trying to name and dismiss in equal measure for weeks now. This was something else entirely. Something louder. It had started the moment I saw him at the edge of the trees and it had been building ever since, a pressure in my chest that radiated outward until my whole body felt like it was running a fever.I wanted him.The thought arrived without apology, clear and simple and completely unhelpful.“Cover yourself.” His voice was tight, controlled in the way that meant the control was costing him s

LIORA’S POVI pressed myself flat against the canvas wall and held my breath.There were two of them, standing close enough that I could have reached out and touched the nearer one if I had been foolish enough to try. They were not whispering exactly, more the lowered register of men who assumed the noise of the camp would cover them.It did not cover them from me.“He’s losing his edge,” the first one said. “Anyone with eyes can see it.”“Soft,” the second agreed. “A king can’t afford to be soft. His father would never have—”“His father knew what the crown required. Every decision, clean. No sentiment. Lucas is out here hunting rabbits and brooding like a boy with his first heartbreak.”A short, derisive sound. “If the council gets wind of how he’s been conducting himself on this trip alone, they’ll start asking questions. Serious ones.”“They’re already asking. Merin brought it up before we left. Quietly, but he brought it up.”I stayed completely still. My back was against the can

LIORA’S POVThe sharing of teas turned out to be an entire ritual.I had not known that either. Each woman presented her blend with a brief explanation, the origin of the leaves, the particular combination of herbs, the occasion it was traditionally suited for. They spoke about their teas the way some people spoke about family history, with detail and ownership and the quiet expectation that you would find it as fascinating as they did.I listened and nodded and tried to look like someone who had opinions about dried chamomile.The cups were small, which helped. A taste from each, passed around the table with ceremony, each sip followed by commentary. Floral. Earthy. Too astringent. Beautifully balanced. I repeated the words I heard and applied them at what I hoped were the right moments and mostly I think I managed it.What I could not manage was the conversation that followed.It started gently enough, the way these things always seemed to start, with a comment that was almost innoc

LUCAS’S POVThe evening had been unremarkable up until that point.Byron walked beside me through the main stretch of the camp, filling the silence with the running commentary he defaulted to when I had been quiet for too long, which was most of the time. I listened with half my attention and gave the other half to the camp around us, the fires, the movement of people winding down after the hunt, the particular texture of a settlement at rest.People greeted me as we passed. I acknowledged each one with the economy of someone who had been doing it long enough that it required no conscious effort. A nod here. A word there. The performance of availability without the reality of it.A nobleman fell into step beside us near the eastern cluster of tents. Broad through the chest, well dressed for a forest camp, with the satisfied energy of someone who had been waiting for an opportunity.“My lord.” He dipped his head. “Exceptional showing today. Three clean kills before midday, and the priz