Lahat ng Kabanata ng Divorced Luna: Carrying The Alpha's King Baby: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

VESPERAS POV"I was frustrated—" Julian began but I cut him off."You were honest." I kept my eyes on his. "For the first time in our marriage, you told me the truth. So let me return the favor." I kept my voice level and calm. "I don't want to be here. I don't want your gifts or your gowns or your plans for coronations. I want to leave. And I am telling you that clearly so there's no confusion later about whether I was willing."The silence stretched between us.Julian looked at me for a long moment. Then his smile returned, wider this time, and my stomach turned."You're magnificent," he said softly. "Do you know that? Three weeks in the wilderness and you come back fiercer than ever." He picked up the diamond necklace from the bed, letting it catch the light. "We're going to be extraordinary together, Vespera. A new empire. I can see it so clearly."He set the necklace down and walked to the door, pausing with his hand on the frame."Rest. Eat something—I've had the kitchens prepare

VESPERA'S POV The throne room stole the breath from my lungs, the moment I stepped in. And I hated how my eyes stared at it with amazement. It was enormous—vaulted ceilings that disappeared into shadow, marble floors veined with gold, columns rising like stone giants on either side. A hundred candles burned in chandeliers above us, sending light cascading across the assembled court in ripples of gold and shadow. And there were people everywhere. Nobles in their finest, advisors in formal robes, guards at every entrance. Wolves from packs across the realm, gathered for the Council, studying everything with the sharp attention of people who understood that what happened in this room today would shape their futures. They all looked at me when we entered. Julian's hand moved from my arm to my waist, and his fingers locked there—not resting, gripping. His thumb pressed into my ribs with a pressure that was just below painful, a constant reminder of exactly where I was and who was ho

VESPERAS POV The book dropped from my hands.She wasn't struggling. Her face was blank with a kind of terror that had moved past panic into somewhere quieter and more terrible—the stillness of a person who understood exactly what was happening and had accepted it. Her servant's cap was gone. Her dark hair spilled loose around the guard's fist."No," I said. The word came out barely a sound. Tears trailed down my face like streams of River that had no barrier.My heart broke every seconds I watched how they treated her.Oh Goddess! This was all.my fault! If I had just stopped her from talking. I put her in this position.*Don't say that,* I heard Nyx said at the back of my mind. *Julian is the one to blame. Don't take that guilt Vespera.*"Good morning," Julian said, stepping in behind the guards.He was dressed immaculately. Dark coat, iron claw pinnee at his collar, hands clasped behind his back. His expression was pleasant, almost regretful, the performance of a reasonable man forc

VESPERAS POV He said it like it was obvious. "The throne is simply the most secure position available."He stood, crossing to look out my window, his back to me for a rare moment. His hands clasped behind him."Your precious alpha is weak," he said, his voice dropping to something more private. "Pathetic, really. A King who lets sentiment destroy him. All that power, that bloodline, those armies—undone by a feeling." He glanced back, and his eyes were contemptuous in a way that told me more about Julian's relationship with his own capacity for feeling than anything else could. "You're better here. Whatever you thought he was—whatever you hoped for—you're better here with me."I looked at his back and thought of golden light in my palms. I thought of Mira.I kept my face still and my hands loose and my rage exactly where it needed to be—deep and cold and absolutely patient."Perhaps," I said.Julian turned, surprised by the non-answer. He searched my face for sarcasm and found nothi

VESPERAS POV *We're running out of time,* Nyx said, in the middle of theat night when I couldn't even try to force myself to sleep even for one minute."I know."I lay in the dark, staring at the ceiling, running through scenarios that all ended badly. Julian would announce the pregnancy to the Council. He would parade me before the assembled Alphas as proof of Iron Claw's strength, his Luna carrying his heir. Would use the baby as leverage, as currency, as another chain to bind me to him.And when the child was born—when it became obvious that the baby carried none of his features, none of his scent, none of his bloodline—I shut the thought down before it could complete itself.The baby kicked. I pressed my hand against the movement, feeling the strength of it.*If we stay here any longer, you might not to be able to get Malachi out— Alive*I breathed out heavily, the repercussions pressing hard on my chest.Outside, snow fell in heavy sheets. The palace was quiet in the way of pre