All Chapters of The Tattooed Queen: Claimed By The Mad King: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

❤️ The Secret ❤️Malgron's heart was pounding so hard and so fast that he could feel it in his throat, in his ears, in the tips of his fingers where his claws were still trying to push their way out. He tried to slow it down. He tried to take deep breaths and calm himself the way he had learned to do decades ago when he was still a young warrior learning to control his temper. But nothing worked. His heart would not listen. It just kept slamming against his ribs like a bird trapped in a cage, panicked and desperate and completely out of his control.He thought he was the only one who knew. He thought the secret about Kaelithra's true origins belonged to him and him alone. He had killed people to keep it that way. He had burned letters and silenced voices and erased entire bloodlines to make sure no one else ever found out what he knew. But he was wrong. He was so incredibly, horrifyingly wrong. Draevon knew. The mad king knew and he had just whispered it in Malgron's ear like a lover

❤️ A King’s Approval ❤️Everyone had definitely heard that stomach growl. There was no pretending otherwise. The sound had echoed off the kitchen walls like a small thunderclap and even Korgath, who was standing at the far end of the table, had raised one of his thick eyebrows in surprise.Draevon decided to pretend it never happened.He walked toward the table with the slow, deliberate stride of a man who was doing everyone a massive favor by even considering their food. Like he was royalty slumming it with commoners. Like he was bestowing a great honor upon this kitchen just by standing in it. His boots made soft sounds on the stone floor and his face was arranged into an expression of complete and utter boredom.He picked up a clean plate from the stack at the end of the table. He examined it for a moment, turning it over in his hands like he was checking for cracks or dirt or some excuse to put it back down and walk away. Finding none, he sighed heavily and turned his attention to

❤️ The Blood Prince's Warning ❤️ He had been leaning against the stone wall with his arms crossed over his broad chest, waiting for them. His informants had told him the trackers were back. His instincts had told him to wait here instead of in his chambers. So he had come. He had stood in the shadows for what felt like hours, watching the main doors, listening for footsteps, waiting for the two men who held the answers to his questions. The trackers stopped walking. Their feet rooted themselves to the ground. They looked at each other and then at Darius and then at each other once again. They had forgotten about the money. Coins that were supposed to be payment for a simple job. Find the prince. And if the opportunity presented itself, if the moment was right, if no one was watching... Well. They had not found the opportunity. The moment had not been right. So the job was incomplete and the money was still in their pocket and now Darius was standing in front of them with murder

❤️ The Starfish on the King's Bed ❤️By the time King Malgron reached his own kingdom, it was already night, and the only light coming out was from the torches lining the castle walls and the thin sliver of moon. He had been riding for hours and his mind had been working the whole time, turning things over and over like a mill wheel grinding grain, and none of it made him feel any better.Number one. Why would his daughter deny knowing him? He knew she knew him. He had seen it in her eyes, that flash of recognition before she looked away. So why? Why was she pretending not to know her own father? What had gotten into her head in the three years she had been gone?Unless. Unless Draevon was threatening her. Unless the mad king had his claws in her somehow, had threatened to hurt her or hurt him if she did not play along with his little game. That thought made Malgron's blood boil. That thought made his claws want to come out and his teeth want to grow sharp. If Draevon was threatening

❤️ The Bedtime War (2) ❤️"You are impossible, you know that, right?" Kaelithra said, her voice rising with every word. She was standing in the middle of the ash pile with her hands on her hips and her face all scrunched up in that way that meant she was about to start listing every single thing he had done wrong since the moment they met. "I was on my own and minding my own business. Running my small shop in that dusty village, in fact I was not bothering anyone or causing trouble..."Draevon interrupted her. He held up one hand like a teacher telling a student to stop talking."I know," he said, his voice flat and bored. "You do not need to say it every single time we are arguing."Kaelithra's eyes narrowed. "I will say it as many times as I want. This is my rant and I will make it as long as I please." She took a step toward him, leaving footprints in the ash. "Now go get me another bed that is as comfortable as the last one. Or else you are not sleeping tonight. And trust me when