His Mistaken Mate のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 15

~ Nyra ~ I didn't sleep. I lay in the dark staring at the ceiling with the note sitting on the table beside me and turned four words over and over in my head until they stopped making sense. *They know who you are.* Who sent it. That was the question I kept hitting. Because the warning mattered less than who it came from. If it was a friend — someone trying to help — then I had an ally I didn't know about. If it was an enemy playing games, trying to make me panic and do something stupid — Then panicking and doing something stupid was exactly what they wanted. I sat up at three in the morning, took the note, and burned it with the small candle on the nightstand. Watched it turn to ash. Then I lay back down and made myself close my eyes. Whatever was coming, I wasn't going to meet it exhausted. --- I came down to breakfast early. Kael was already there. Same as three mornings ago — papers on the table, coffee at his elbow, not looking up when I walked in. I poured my coffee

~ Nyra ~ "How much do you know about the curse?" he said. "I read the folder," I said. "All of it." "When?" "Day three." He nodded slowly. "That's why you were watching the east tree line every morning." "Yes." He leaned back. "Tell me what you understood." "It kills you," I said. "Slowly. Starts with the wolf, moves into the body. Your hand first. Then it works its way up and eventually stops your heart." He didn't react. Just looked at me. "The bond breaks it," I said. "Blood bond with the firstborn Holt daughter. Which is Lena. Who isn't here." I looked at him. "I am." "Yes," he said. "So how long have you known I wasn't her?" "Before the ceremony," he said. I stared at him. Before the ceremony. He had stood at that altar and known. Said the vows knowing. Moved me into his home knowing. "Why didn't you send me back?" I said. "Because sending you back broke the alliance and handed Malrik everything he needed." He paused. "And because I wanted to see what you would d