Semua Bab The Awakening of Slave: Bab 61 - Bab 70

Kalev’s POVThe official report was concise. Too concise. That was my first clue. Official reports like these usually had a lot more information. Descriptive details. Cause of death. Location. Things like that.It had taken me forever to track down this report, and now that I was reading it, I stared in utter disbelief. I sat at my desk with the document open in front of me. The clean lines of text had an efficiency like nothing worth questioning had happened.But there were questions. That was the problem.Thor: deceased during final engagement. Body recovered. Cremated under Council protocol.That was it. There were no other details.So according to this file, Thor had died during an altercation and his body had been cremated. Needless to say, this was not a typical report.I leaned back slightly. My eyes lingered on the file, as if staring at it long enough might force it to admit something it wasn’t written to reveal.“He’s not dead,” I said out loud. That was much was obvious to

Senna’s POVThe estate changed after dark. During the day, everything about it felt polished and controlled. Servants moved through the halls with lowered eyes, and guards stood at attention beside carved doorways.At night, it was a completely different story. The estate was quieter, colder. The corridors dimmed and footsteps became sparse. It was eerie.An estate this size with this many guards should have felt safer. It didn’t.I was in my bedroom, trying to sleep, when Verity stirred. She stood on all fours, her ears pressed back, on high alert.The warning snapped through me instantly. I opened my eyes and lay still. Every muscle tightened. My hand slid automatically toward the knife resting beside the bed.“What?” I whispered.“Someone’s here,” she growled.I pushed the blankets aside and rose carefully. I ignored the pull of pain along my side where my wound still hadn’t fully healed. Moonlight spilled through the tall windows. I listened.At first, I didn’t hear anything excep

Senna’s POVThe paperwork arrived in a box. I was sitting at the dining room table nibbling on fresh fruit when the servant came in.It wasn’t a folder or a thin stack of documents tied neatly with ribbon. It was an actual box. It was large enough that the servant carrying it had to brace it both hands. He entered without meeting my eyes and set it carefully on the table in front of me.“Victor privileges,” he said stiffly. Then he left before I could answer.The door clicked shut behind him. I set down my fruit and stared at the box for a long time.It looked expensive. It was made out of dark polished wood with brass corners. The crest of the Capital carved neatly into the lid. Verity stirred uneasily beneath my skin.“I don’t like it,” she said.“I know,” I muttered.Slowly, I lifted the lid.Inside, the documents were arranged with care. They were separated into sections by thin dividers. Every page was crisp. Someone had spent a lot of time making this look clean. It was all very

Senna’s POVLaying beside Kalev, I couldn’t sleep. I could hear him breathing beside me. I tossed and turned. The silk sheets were soft against my skin. A breeze blew in from the window. I knew I should try to sleep. But I just couldn’t. Verity paced inside of me. Orrin’s presence was keeping her up too.“I know you’re awake,” he said.His voice startled me. I’d thought he was asleep. I froze, not knowing what to say. For five nights we’d slept like this, side by side. I’d been careful to stick to my side of the bed. But truth be told, I hadn’t been sleeping well. Not with him beside me.The matebond was getting stronger by the day. Whenever I was near him, I could feel it throbbing inside of me. It was an aching, a desire that threatened to consume me whole.Lying there next to him, the heat from the bond pulsed between us. I swallowed hard. He was shirtless and I was painfully aware of his body next to mine.“You can feel it,” he said. “The matebond. Look at me.”I rolled over onto

Senna’s POVSector 6 looked smaller than I remembered. I noticed it at we approached.From the transport window, the familiar sprawl of uneven rooftops and narrow, dirt-packed streets stretched out in front of us. But it no longer felt endless. Was this really the place I’d grown up in? It felt like a lifetime had passed since I’d been taken from here and put on that bus with all the other participants.I wasn’t the same person anymore. No. I was stronger. More confident. And thanks to this victory tour, I had the eyes and ears of all the sectors. I could leverage that to do something important. Something meaningful.“It used to feel bigger,” I said to Kalev. He flashed me a sympathetic smile, but he didn’t say anything. What could he say? He couldn’t possibly understand the flurry of emotions inside of me as we approached my home.They had cleared a section near the central square had been marked off for the arrival. People had gathered to watch. Well, not just watch. They were there