All Chapters of TRIBUTE TO THE LYCAN KING: The Ironblood Heiress: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

VAELARIONI was sitting at the council table, staring straight ahead while voices moved around me, but none of them truly stayed in my head long enough to matter. That alone was enough to irritate me, because I had spent centuries building control over my mind and focus, and now something as simple as a meeting was slipping through my grasp as if it meant nothing.My fingers tapped once against the armrest of my chair, a quiet sound, but in a room like this, it was loud enough to make the man speaking pause for a second before continuing. I should have been listening. But my mind kept reeling back to Seraphina and the way she had looked at me this morning before I left. I had seen exhaustion before, I had seen weakness, I had seen women break in ways far worse than that, and yet something about her tone, something about the way she said it, unsettled me in a way I could not explain, and I did not like that feeling at all.I shifted slightly in my seat, forcing my attention back to t

VAELARIONI should have predicted this earlier, I knew there was something about Seraphina right from when she walked into my chamber that night...something else that had restrained me from killing her. And no, it wasn't because my wolf had gone quiet for the first time in centuries. I smelt the difference in her and I was sure she didn't realise this about herself. I groaned and stood up from the chair. I needed a drink...or two, just to clear my head at least. I paused in my tracks when my wolf stirred. It wasn't violently this time but in a restless, uneasy way that made me stop where I stood because this was not normal, not after everything that had happened. The first night I had taken her, the first time I had touched her, something inside me...something that had been broken for centuries had quieted, and my wolf, which had always been unpredictable, had gone still in a way I had not experienced in a very long time.But now, it was unsettled again.I exhaled slowly, my jaw

SERAPHINAI couldn't shake the dream away, no matter how hard I tried, and it stayed with me even after I woke up and forced myself to sit up and breathe slowly. I still felt the impact. I even washed my face and told myself it was nothing more than something my tired mind had created, because it did not feel like just a dream. I kept seeing Caelum's face and remembering when I had worked as a servant in his pack. That stupid dream still haunted me...the way that blade had come down on me as if it would never stop. I checked my neck lightly, as if there might be an injury. There wasn't and I was more reassured that this was just a dream. I pressed my hand lightly against my chest, trying to steady my breathing, but it did not help much because the feeling was still there, sitting deep inside me like something waiting to happen.It did not feel like fear alone but a warning. I did not know why that thought came to me, but it did, and once it did, it refused to leave.I moved slowl

SERAPHINA"Where is that loud noise coming from?" I said to myself as I stood up from the chair. It seemed like it was coming from out the door. It sounded like voices clashing in low arguments and footsteps shifting, something about the noise was too tense to ignore, and for a moment I stood still in the middle of my room wondering if I should just let it pass, but curiosity pulled me forward before I could stop myself.I opened the door slowly and stepped out but what I saw made me pause.Four guards stood right in front of my chamber, positioned like a wall, their backs were straight but their attention was fixed on someone in front of them, and it took me only a second to notice who it was.It was that same servant I could not stand, I frowned slightly.This was strange, I had never had guards posted outside my chamber before, watching over my door like I was someone important, It just didn't make any sense.Part of me wanted to turn around and go back inside, to ignore whatever t

VAELARIONI sat on the edge of the bed with a straight back even though every part of my body protested against it, my hand was resting loosely against my thigh while I forced my breathing to remain steady, because showing weakness, even in solitude, was not something I had ever allowed myself to do. The room was too quiet, and the silence only made it easier to feel everything I would have rather ignored. But what unsettled me the most was that my body refused to heal. I had taken worse wounds before, far worse wounds that should have ended me, including wounds that had left others dead in moments, yet I had always healed and always endured, but this… this was different in a way I could not easily dismiss.I moved my fingers slowly to my side, pressing lightly against the bandaged area, and even that small touch sent a sharp sting through me, it was enough to make my jaw tighten. I could still remember it clearly, the moment the rogue’s teeth sank into me, and the force behind it,