All Chapters of His Regret, The Crown's Claim : Chapter 121 - Chapter 123

Zara's green eyes were flecked with a predatory amusement that made my skin crawl."You said you were expecting me," I said, my voice echoing off the stone walls. I stepped closer, my knuckles white as I gripped the cold bars. "How? How do you know what I am? What did the True Bloods do to me?"Zara tilted her head, a stray lock of dark hair falling over her shoulder. She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she began to pace the small, cramped space of her cell like a caged leopard. "You have no idea of the value of the blood in your veins, do you? You think you’re just a girl who got lucky…” she turned her head to me slowly, a grin forming on her lips. “Or unlucky ….if you think about it.” She giggled. “But the True Bloods have been tracking the resonance of the Speaker for decades. We knew the line hadn't ended and we certainly knew the Goddess was just waiting for a vessel weak enough to inhabit.""Tell me what you know," I demanded, the headache behind my eyes pulsing in time wit

I'm about to do the stupidest thing ever. The darkness of the palace at night wasn't silent, it was alive with a thousand breathing shadows. Every creak of the floorboards sounded like a gunshot in my ears, and every gust of wind against the stained-glass windows felt like the cold hand of a guard on my shoulder. I moved through the service corridors, my heart hammering, it was as if my pulse were saying, “traitor, traitor, traitor,” in my ears. I finally managed to reach the stairwell leading to the Cells. My breath was shallow, coming in short gasps that burned my throat. I was halfway down the spiral stone steps when the heavy iron door at the bottom groaned open.I froze, my foot hovering over the next step.A guard emerged, his armor clinking softly. He was carrying a torch, the white light swinging rhythmically, casting long, distorted shadows up the walls as he moved. I didn't have time to retreat. I pressed myself into a shallow alcove, a space barely deep enough to hold a