Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 41 - Chapitre 50

The smell of blood is thick. It clings to my hands, my clothes, my senses. I can’t breathe properly. My stomach twists with worry, fear, and anger.Damon kneels beside me, chest heaving, hands trembling. His eyes are dark. Furious. Guilty.“I should’ve seen it,” he mutters. “I trusted him. I… I let him get this close.”I pull back sharply. “Don’t. Not now. Don’t say another word.”He flinches at the tone, but doesn’t stop. “Aria… I failed you. I failed Sera. I…”“Stop,” I snapped. My voice shakes, but I need it to be steady. “Stop. You’re not helping. We can’t waste time on blame. He’s gone. And now we’re left with the mess he made.”Damon looks away, jaw tight, silent for a moment. Then he whispers, almost to himself, “I will find him. I will make him pay.”I want to reach for him. To pull him close. To make him feel safe. But I can’t. Not yet. Not when every part of me is burning with betrayal and rage.“I can’t… I can’t trust you right now,” I say, voice low but firm. “You let him

I don’t scream.I don’t beg.I don’t step back.“No,” I say.The word leaves my mouth calm, steady, final. It carries weight. It carries teeth.The council elder smiles like he expected it. “Then we take it from you.”Pain hits without warning.Not physical. Not sharp.It crawls.My thoughts blur. My heartbeat stutters. My breath turns shallow. Fingers press against my skull that I cannot see.I gasp. “Get out.”Their voices slip into my mind. Layered. Cold. Many.You are unfit.You are unstable.You are dangerous.I drop to one knee. My hands clutch my stomach. My child surges, confused. Afraid.Mother“I’m here,” I whisper. “Stay with me.”The elder’s voice cuts through the noise. “Let go. Let us carry the burden.”“No,” I say again. Louder. “You don’t get to touch him.”The pressure tightens.Memories twist. Fear sharpens.I see Damon bleeding. I see Lucian falling. I see fire. Loss. Death.I cry out.“Aria!” Damon’s voice breaks through like a blade.The pressure snaps.Someone ro

I never planned to tell them like this.The truth claws its way out of me the moment I see their faces turn toward me. Suspicion. Fear. Hope. All mixed together.“It’s time,” I say quietly. My voice does not shake. My heart does.Aria’s eyes stay on me. Sharp. Tired. Unblinking. “Time for what, Lucian?”“For the truth,” I answer. “The whole truth. Not the pieces I gave you before. Not the parts that were easy.”Damon steps closer. His jaw tightens. “Then speak. Because whatever shadow just walked through that door knows something we don’t.”I breathe in. Then out. Then I let it go.“My bloodline didn’t just serve the council,” I say. “We guarded something older. Something they feared.”Aria stiffens. The child inside her shifts. I feel it. The bond hums. Alert.“We guarded Alpha-born children,” I continued. “Not heirs crowned by councils. Not sons of politics. Real Alpha-born. Children born with power before birth.”Silence crashes down.Damon’s voice cuts through it. “Guarded… how?”

The truth finally speaks.It doesn’t whisper.It doesn’t soften itself.It cuts.Damon stands very still when the words reach him. Too still. That kind of stillness only comes before something breaks.“They knew,” he says quietly. “They always knew.”Lucian’s gaze stays sharp. “They didn’t just know. They planned.”My chest tightens. “Planned what?”Damon turns to me slowly. His eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen them. Not with rage. With grief.“My father,” he says. “He believed the Alpha line was a mistake.”I shake my head. “That doesn’t make sense. He ruled with iron. He protected the council.”“He protected power,” Damon replies. “Not people.”Lucian crosses his arms. “Your father met with the council in secret for years. Before he died. Before you ever took the mantle.”Damon’s jaw clenches. “And no one told me.”“They couldn’t,” Lucian says. “You were never meant to know.”My voice comes out thin. “Know what?”Lucian looks at me then. Really looks at me.“That your child,” he

I wake up knowing something is wrong.My body feels heavy. Not weak. Just held.I try to move my hands. I cannot.I try to move my legs. Nothing.I breathe in slowly. I breathe out slower.Panic waits at the edge of my chest, but I do not let it win.“So she’s awake.”The voice is calm. Too calm.Then another voice answers it. And another.They overlap. They blend.The council never speaks as one unless they want to remind someone how small they are.I lift my head as much as the chains allow.I refuse to bow.“You don’t get to whisper about me,” I say. My voice is rough, but it holds. “If you have something to say, say it to my face.”A pause.Then laughter. Soft. Cold.“You have always been difficult, Aria.”I recognize that voice. I hate that I do.Elder Kael. He always spoke like he was doing you a favor by breathing the same air.“You bound a pregnant woman,” I say. “If this is your idea of order, it’s already dead.”“You mistake us,” another elder says. Female. Sharp. “We bound