บททั้งหมดของ THE REJECTED BETA : บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

Astance’s POVThe air in the courtroom didn't just thicken; it curdled.The silence that followed Hakan’s declaration wasn’t the respectful quiet of a council, it was the breathless, predatory stillness of a pack that had just scented a much larger, much older beast in the tall grass. I looked at Hakan, then at the other elders, and saw the shift. The pity was gone. The annoyance was gone. In its place was a hungry, sharp-eyed avarice that made my hackles rise.I didn't wait for a formal dismissal. I didn't wait for Solara to offer a witty observation or for Vane to ask a clarifying question.I moved.My hand clamped around Marie’s upper arm, firm but not bruising and I pivoted. My boots cracked against the stone as I hauled her toward the side exit."Alpha!" Hakan’s voice rose behind us, shrill and demanding. "We are not finished! If she bears the Mark of the High Passes, then the treaty of""The treaty is whatever I say it is!" I roared over my shoulder, my voice a physical blow t

Marie’s POVThe stone walls of Northreach felt like they were perspiring, the damp chill of the mountains seeping through the heavy tapestries until the very air tasted of salt and impending snow. I ran. I didn’t care about the propriety of a Luna—or a Seer, or whatever hollowed-out vessel for power they had decided I was. I stumbled down the corridor, my breath hitching in my chest in jagged, pathetic sobs that echoed off the vaulted ceiling like the cries of a trapped bird.I didn't stop until I reached the small, sun-drenched alcove tucked away in the servant’s wing where Vivian was sorting through fresh linens. It was the only place in this fortress that didn't feel like a courtroom or a cage. I burst through the door, my knees finally giving out before I could reach her."Marie!" Vivian dropped a stack of white silk, the fabric billowing around her like a dying cloud as she rushed to my side. "Gods, child, what has happened? Did he hurt you?"I couldn't speak. I buried my face in

Noah’s POVThe air in the South was stifling, thick with the scent of blooming jasmine and the rot of the marshes, but for the first time in days, I felt like I could breathe. I stood on the terrace, watching the sunset bleed across the horizon like a fresh wound, while Raine, the courier who had successfully breached the Northreach line stood three paces behind me.He looked exhausted, his boots caked in grey mountain mud, but there was a flicker of triumph in his eyes that mirrored the jagged spark in my own chest."You’re certain she received it?" I asked, not turning around. I traced the rim of my crystal wine glass, the ring of the glass a sharp, high-pitched note in the quiet evening."Yes, Alpha," Raine said, his voice raspy from the altitude. "I watched from the treeline through the glass. The guard, took it directly into the residential wing. Ten minutes later, I heard the scream. Then the silence. The kind of silence that happens right before a storm breaks."I smiled, a c

Astance’s POV The air in the grand hall didn't just feel cold; it felt brittle, as if the very molecules of oxygen were crystallizing into shards of glass. I stood on the balcony overlooking the main courtyard, my hands clamped onto the stone balustrade. The granite groaned beneath my grip. Below, the massive iron-bound gates of Northreach were groaning open, revealing the pale, sickly silhouette of the Mediator against the backdrop of a swirling tundra.Solara.The man walked with a deliberate, agonizing slowness, his ash-colored robes trailing behind him like the shroud of a plague-bearer. He didn't look like a man entering a fortress of predators; he looked like a man walking into a room he already owned."Astance."Kaelen’s voice was low, urgent, vibrating with a tension that mirrored my own. He stepped into my peripheral vision, his face pale, his eyes darting from the courtyard back to me. He could see the gold in my eyes bleeding into the pupils. He could feel the aura I was t

Solara’s POVThe wind off the Northern passes didn't just howl, it screamed with the voices of everyone I had buried to reach this seat of power. I moved through the Southern thicket, my ash-colored robes whipping around my legs like the wings of a dying crow. Every step I took away from Northreach felt like a step away from a firing squad.He knows.The thought was a jagged shard of ice embedded in my brain. Astance, that golden-eyed beast, had reached into the silt of history and pulled out the one skeleton I thought I had ground to dust centuries ago. The White-Glass Incident. The mere mention of it had made my ancient blood run cold. He hadn't just threatened me, he had checkmated me in my own game.By the time I reached the outskirts of the Southern capital, my fury had reached a boiling point that threatened to level the very trees I passed. The modern world of the South, with its glass towers and its pathetic, electronic security felt like a playground for children. I didn't s