Claimed by the Ruthless Alpha Prince のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 101 - チャプター 110

Kael's POVLike most mornings lately, Elara is still asleep in our bed, sprawled across silk sheets like something out of a painting. The memory of her beneath me, around me, completely undone and mine, sends heat spiraling through my chest even now.I sit behind my desk, the heavy burden of political intrigue replacing the satisfaction of last night. Reports are scattered across the mahogany surface—fragments of information about a bloodline that supposedly doesn’t exist, references to “systematic eradication” that turn my stomach, investigations into what Draven has been up to, accounts of the losses the Tashina family is now facing since they’ve lost favor with the Crown Prince. I’m three pages into a particularly cryptic document when heavy footsteps echo in the corridor outside. Unhurried, familiar, unmistakably authoritative.The door opens without a knock, because of course it does.My father strides in like he owns the place—which, technically, he does. He is dressed simply t

Kael POVThe stone staircase descends into darkness, and each footfall echoes through the cold corridors like a death knell. My boots click against wet rock as I make my way deeper into the palace dungeons, the air growing thicker with each step. Then, the smell hits me—dampness, rot, desperation. It clings to everything down here.But none of that matters. Not the stench, not the shadows, not the way the torchlight flickers against the walls like dying hope. All that matters is getting answers.I find them in the third cell from the end, exactly where the guards told me they’d be. Two figures are huddled in the dim light filtering through the iron bars, and the sight of them makes a feeling of satisfaction unfurl in my chest.Magnus Blackwood sits on the stone bench, his once-commanding presence reduced to a pathetic and broken one. His gray hair hangs in greasy strands around his face, and his clothes are stained with who knows what. But his eyes—those calculating, gray eyes that I

Kael POVSomething breaks inside me. Something fundamental and irreversible. The man I was five minutes ago—the one who believed in mercy, in justice, in the possibility of redemption—that man is gone. In his place is someone darker, someone who understands perfectly why some people need to suffer before they die.“Afterward,” Magnus Blackwood continues, completely oblivious to the fact that he’s ensuring his own slow, painful torture with every word, “I made sure everyone in the pack understood that Elena’s death was a lesson. That her daughter would live only as long as she remembered her place. As long as she served the pack without complaint and never, ever tried to leave.”My voice, when I finally find it, doesn’t sound like my own. It’s colder, deadlier, the voice of a man who’s looking at a corpse that doesn’t know it’s dead yet.“What is Eclipse Born?”Magnus Blackwood’s monologue stops abruptly. He frowns as if I’ve just asked him to pull from the deepest recesses of his mind

Elara POVThe mortar and pestle feel familiar in my hands as I grind dried moonflower petals into powder. The rhythmic motion soothes my nerves, even as worry gnaws at my chest like a persistent ache.“The key is to crush them just enough to release the oils,” I explain to Mira, one of the royal healers who has been eager to learn my techniques. “Too much pressure and you’ll destroy the medicinal properties.”She nods earnestly, taking notes in her leather-bound journal. “And this helps with sleep disturbances?”“Nightmares, specifically,” I say, adding a pinch of lavender to the mixture. “The combination creates a calming effect that promotes peaceful rest.”For the past two weeks, I’ve been teaching the younger healers my methods, and they now hang on my every word. But I’ve also been watching Kael slowly disappear behind walls I can’t breach.“Lady Elara?” Mira’s voice pulls me from my momentary brooding yet again. “Should I prepare the tincture base now?”“Yes, but remember—moonfl

Your mother gave him a perfect opportunity,” Magnus Blackwood continues, his voice growing venomous. “Fell in love with that Eclipse Born rogue, got herself pregnant, and then came crawling back to daddy when she realized what kind of danger she was in. Your grandfather saw his chance: protect the Eclipse Born bastard and cash in later on.”I feel sick as the pieces fall into place.“But the old man didn’t trust anyone with his secret. Not even me.” Magnus Blackwood’s eyes gleam with malice. “I had to figure it out myself. And when I did... Well, I realized I could get my own revenge on your slut of a mother.”“You’re lying.”“Am I?” Magnus Blackwood’s smile is vicious. “I gave her a choice, little wolf. I could either kill her and end her misery quickly, or she could become my whore, warm my bed whenever I demanded it, and maybe I’d let both of you live a little longer.”Fragments of memory slam into me like shards of glass. My mother’s face, pale and drawn. The way she would flinch