جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 130

~CASSIAN~The Blackwells' involvement changed everything. In some ways it was good, in others, it was worse than before. They were more challenging to deal with than the Varkas. A much bigger force. I sat in the war room with a partly healed body and a mind that would not rest, staring at the map as if the lines on it could tell me how to reach her without starting a second war. For Aurora, it didn't matter though, I would keep fighting until death. Nothing would ever change that. Zerath stood across from me, arms folded, watching me the way he always did when I was one breath away from doing something reckless."She's safer with them than she ever was with the Varkas," he said. "You know that. They will protect her. Not harm her.”"I know she's farther from me," I answered. "And I know what that family is. They don't follow the same laws as the rest of us. They don't recognize a mate bond the way wolves do. I may not be a wolf but I felt a strong connection to Aurora since the begi

~AURORA~I waited until the last vehicle in the line was being loaded. I was taking a big risk by sneaking out. I'd managed to trick security and made it seem like I wanted to use the bathroom. Then I climbed out and somehow managed to get here in time before they left. No one looked twice at a figure moving along the far side of the convoy. The Blackwells traveled with so much security that one extra person was easy to miss if you were quick and quiet enough. And the last thing they were expecting was a Blackwell heir trying to sneak into one of the vehicles. I slipped in, pulled the door shut without letting it latch fully, and folded myself down behind the seat as far as I could go.My heart was racing so fast I was certain someone would hear it. I could not believe I was actually doing this. I did not achieve it alone. Some of my siblings helped, I couldn't have done this without them. I was surprised they'd even agreed to help me. I knew how strict they all were when it came t

~AURORA~I didn't know what to do.The words I had thrown at my family were still out in the open, and part of me wanted to take them back—not because they were untrue, but because I had only just found these people. I had only just been given a name that did not feel like a punishment. Hurting them so soon after they claimed me felt like tearing at something I was not ready to lose.But I also could not stand there and watch them threaten Cassian. I made it clear to them since this topic started that I was not willing to lose him. I told them how important he was to me. They never should have threatened to take his life simply because he refused to let me go.Not after everything.This was the first time I had seen him since the courtyard, since the council beat him down and I had been dragged away screaming. He still carried the aftermath of it in the tightness of his movement, in the faint shadows under his eyes, but he was standing. He was well enough to come for me again. The r

~AURORA~The elders did not raise their voices.That almost made it worse. They acted nothing like the Varkas. At least towards me. However, I'd heard from everyone that they were not this gentle with people outside of their blood. They sat in a long stone chamber beneath the castle, twelve of them including Alaric, with my father standing slightly apart from the table as if he already knew this would not go the way the old law demanded. I did not like putting my family through this. I wished things were easier. I wished they didn't have such complicated rules when it came to their partners. I stood in the center of the floor with my hands clasped in front of me and felt every pair of eyes like a weight. These were not courtiers. These were the people who had kept the Blackwell line unbroken by refusing exceptions. They knew what worked for them. It was why they were as powerful as they were today. Alaric spoke first."No Blackwell child has gone against this law and remained unco

~AURORA~"I want to fight."The words came out before I had a chance to stop it. My father, Alaric, Marcus, and Rowen had been bent over maps in the same chamber where the elders had delayed my future, and every mark on those pages pointed toward the Varkas palace. It was becoming incredibly intense. The Varkas were on the verge of being completely defeated and brought to their knees. I desperately wanted to be present to witness every moment of it firsthand. I couldn't bear the thought of missing out on that experience. After all, it was me who had to endure the relentless pain every single day—being relentlessly punished, exploited, hated, beaten, and ridiculed by others that all living in that palace. I longed to be there when their entire kingdom finally burned to the ground, leaving nothing but ashes and ruin. I wanted to smile as I watched them bleed. I yearned to take everything from them—their power, their possessions, their dignity, not only because of my own suffering but