All Chapters of Marked By Two: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

​Aria’s POV​I walked down the grand staircase with my hand still tucked under Cassian's elbow. It felt like a haunting repetition of the night at the gala. The last time I had walked this path, I was a girl with a stolen mark and a misguided cousin. Today, I was a woman with a restored mark and a target on my back.​At the bottom of the stairs, the air felt frozen. Noah stood by a corner, his expression a wall of unreadable Alpha stone. Beside him, Elena stood with her chin high, her eyes flashing with a disapproval she didn't bother to hide.​The drawing room had been scrubbed of blood, but the scent of ozone and silver still clung to the curtains. The Grand Luna sat in her usual chair; the High Council member, the one who had been at the bar during the massacre, sat by her right. He looked remarkably composed for a man who had drunk through a war.​"Finally," the Grand Luna said, her voice like a gavel striking wood. "Now that the cause of our misfortune has joined us, perhaps the

​Cassian’s POV​The words hung in the air like a death sentence. “I choose Noah.”​A wave of relief washed over me so violently I nearly stumbled, but it was immediately swallowed by a cold, fear. I didn't want her blood on my hands. I didn't want to be the one to break her. But as I looked at my twin, I saw a version of Noah I had never seen in twenty-five years.​Noah looked paralyzed. His eyes were wide, his chest heaving as if he’d been struck. He wasn't the stoic Alpha anymore; he looked like a man watching his own heart be led to the altar. He was terrified.​Then, I saw it.​A faint, smudged streak of red lipstick on the corner of Noah’s lower lip. It wasn't blood. It was the exact shade of the lipstick Aria had been wearing earlier.​My stomach did a slow, nauseating flip. They had kissed. In the middle of this nightmare, while the estate was still cooling from a massacre, my brother, the so called perfect one, had finally broken. I should have felt a sting of jealousy and I d

​Aria’s POV​The sun came up without a glow. Just cold and grey, illuminating the mess we had made of the courtyard. The scent of copper and ozone still clung to the air, even as the cleaning crews, silent, professional men in suits scrubbed the marble where a High Council member and a madman had bled out only hours before.​I stood on the grand portico, my arms wrapped tightly around myself. I was still dressed for a fight that never happened, the fabric stiff and smelling of smoke.​A sleek, midnight-black Rolls-Royce sat idling at the base of the steps, its engine growled faintly, vibrating in the soles of my boots.​The Grand Luna stood by the open door, her spine as straight as a steel rod. She didn't look like a woman who had just watched a murder; she looked like a CEO who had decided a merger was no longer profitable. She adjusted her silk scarf, her eyes cutting through the morning mist to find her sons.​"I’ve had enough of this drama," she said, her voice cutting through t

​Noah’s POV​The SUV hadn't even come to a full stop before I was out the door. The gravel crunched under my boots, a harsh, jagged sound in the silence of the estate’s driveway. I shoved the manila envelope, the one with my mother’s betrayal inside, deep into the inner pocket of my charcoal overcoat. It felt like a lead weight against my ribs.​I didn't make it three steps into the foyer before a hand clamped onto my shoulder, spinning me around.​"Where the hell have you been?" Cassian hissed.​He looked like a man who had spent the last six hours vibrating out of his skin. His shirt was untucked, his hair was a bird's nest, and the faint scent of bourbon followed him like a shadow. But it was his eyes that stopped me, they weren't just angry. They were haunted.​"Business, Cassian. The kind that keeps this roof over our heads," I lied, my voice steady despite the hammer in my chest. "What’s so urgent that you had to blow up my phone?"​"Maeve is talking," he whispered, casting a lo

Noah's povMy hand like a vice clamped onto his wrist, twisting it back until the glass fell to the floor as I stepped between them. His face was a mask of absolute fury as he shoved me back.​"That is enough!" I shouted, my Alpha aura flaring so bright it felt like a physical weight in the room.​"Cassian, back off!" I shoved him again, my shoulder hitting his chest with enough force to send him staggering into the velvet armchair.​Aria slumped against the bookshelf, her hand flying to her throat where the jagged glass had nearly tasted her skin. She was shaking, her eyes wide and wet, looking at Cassian as if he were a stranger. And in this state, he was. He was a drowning man trying to pull everyone else under with him.​"She’s lying, Noah!" Cassian yelled, his voice cracking as he pointed a trembling finger at the door. "Maeve is lying, Elena is lying, and she—" he lunged toward Aria again, but I stepped into his path, my Alpha presence slamming into him like a physical wall.​"E