All Chapters of Bankrupting the Alpha: Crowned by the Dragon King: Chapter 281 - Chapter 290

Aella POV I was exhausted. Not battle exhausted. Not pregnancy exhausted. Not even childbirth exhausted. This was a special kind of exhaustion. The kind caused by paperwork. Mountains and mountains of paperwork. The Void apparently hadn't had a functioning government in six hundred years. Six hundred years. Do you know how many reports that generated? Far too many. I was currently surrounded by maps. Land grants. Infrastructure proposals. Agricultural plans. Population estimates. Transportation networks. Housing requests. Trade routes. Construction permits. The list never ended. Every time I finished one pile, two more appeared. I was beginning to suspect the Void generated paperwork as a defense mechanism. I rubbed my eyes. Then immediately reached for the Bond. Seeking something familiar. Something comforting. Something that wasn't a report. The connection responded instantly. Warm. Bright. Sunlight. Sol. The relief was immediate. His presence set

Aella POV The silence on the Bond was glorious. Absolutely glorious. I could practically hear Sol trying to figure out how his supposedly sleeping daughter had somehow escaped the sanctuary, crossed realms, and established herself in my throne room. Finally, he spoke. Very carefully. Aella... I smiled. Sweetly. Dangerously. Yes, darling? Another pause. What exactly do you mean Althea is there? I looked toward the center of the throne room. Toward my daughter. My baby. The tiny girl wearing a crown almost larger than her head. Althea was currently supervising several maids who were sorting documents into organized piles. One maid moved a report. Althea immediately pointed at a different pile. The maid corrected herself. The tiny tyrant nodded approvingly. I felt a headache forming. Exactly what I said. Silence. Then confusion. ...What? She is here. More silence. Here where? I leaned back against my chair. Enjoying this entirely too much. In the Void. T

Aella POVRunning a kingdom was somehow harder than fighting for one.At least during a battle, you knew who your enemy was.Paperwork was relentless.It never slept.Never surrendered.Never stopped multiplying.The Void had awakened thousands of citizens over the last few weeks, and every single one of them needed somewhere to live.Somewhere to work.Somewhere to belong.Hunter and I had spent days reviewing records, family histories, settlement claims, and land grants.The old ruling families had mostly disappeared.Some lines had died out entirely.Others had fractured beyond recognition.The Void needed new leadership.Not tyrants.Not figureheads.Administrators.People capable of rebuilding what had been lost.Unfortunately, that meant endless meetings.I was currently staring at a report detailing agricultural production when Hunter slid another file toward me."This one."I looked down.A woman named Helena Arcturus.Former settlement leader.Apparently she had organized and

Aella POVBy the time the last mutant fell, I was exhausted.Not the kind of exhaustion that came from paperwork.Not the kind that came from raising three impossible children.Battle exhaustion.The kind that settled into your bones.The kind that made every movement feel heavier.The battlefield was silent.At last.The Silver Pack still stood.The resort still stood.The people had survived.That should have been enough.But it wasn't.Because Elias would return.He always returned.I stood overlooking the rebuilt pack lands while healers moved among the wounded.The scent of smoke still lingered in the air.The ground remained scarred from the battle.Evidence of how close we had come to disaster.Again.Beside me, Sol remained quiet.Watching.Thinking.Planning.I knew that expression.He was already looking toward the next threat.The next battle.The next problem.The next way to protect everyone.And honestly?So was I.Because surviving wasn't enough anymore.We needed preve

Aella POVThe following days were... different.Sol didn't mention our argument again.Not once.He didn't bring up Elias.He didn't bring up the Silver Pack.He didn't bring up me running into danger alone.But I could tell.The Bond told me.His actions told me.His silence told me.He was worried.Not panicked.Not angry.Worried.Deeply worried.The kind of worry that settled into a person's bones and refused to leave.Sol stayed close.Always.If I was reviewing reports, he was reading beside me.If I was meeting with nobles, he was handling Academy paperwork nearby.If I walked through the Void, he somehow ended up walking through the Void too.He wasn't being controlling.That wasn't who Sol was.He was simply... there.Present.Watching.Making sure I was safe.Part of me wanted to tell him he was being ridiculous.The other part remembered the look on his face after the Silver Pack attack.Remembered the fear.The desperation.The honesty.A few words weren't going to fix tha