All Chapters of Two Mates, One Destiny : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

FREYADante led me past the tree line, far enough that the porch light faded behind us and the only sound left was wind moving through the branches overhead. He stopped near the same spot where he’d told me two weeks ago that he should have left me at the border, and for one terrible moment I thought he’d brought me out here to say it again.“What did you need to speak with me about,” I asked, when the silence stretched too long for comfort.“You and my brother.” He said it flatly, arms crossed, jaw set in a way that told me whatever this was, he’d been building toward it for a while. “The two of you have been spending a great deal of time together lately.”“We play cards. That’s all.”“Is it really ?” He wasn’t looking at me now, his gaze fixed somewhere past my shoulder, out toward the dark line of trees. “I’ve heard your laughter from the porch most evenings this week.”“Is that a problem?”“I didn’t say it was a problem.”“You said it like it was a problem.”His jaw tightened, and

FREYAKendrick summoned me to the training yard three days after the incident, and I went with a knot of nerves sitting low in my stomach, unsure whether I was about to be tested or punished for the chaos I seemed to keep causing wherever I went. The days since Dante’s outburst had passed in a strange, watchful quiet, the pack giving me a wide berth in the hallways, warriors dropping their eyes when I passed instead of holding my gaze the way they had before. I told myself it didn’t bother me. It bothered me more than I wanted to admit.He was waiting near the center of the yard when I arrived, arms folded, watching a group of younger warriors run drills off to one side with the kind of sharp, assessing gaze that made it clear nothing in this pack happened without his notice. He didn’t look up right away, letting the silence stretch long enough that I started to wonder if I’d misunderstood the summons entirely.“You’ve caused quite a stir this week,” he said finally, turning to face m

FREYAThe whispers followed me for days after the yard incident, trailing behind me through hallways and across the courtyard like a shadow I couldn’t outrun.I noticed it first at breakfast the morning after, the way conversations dipped lower when I entered the kitchen, the way a few of the older warriors straightened slightly in their seats as I passed, an old habit of deference I recognized from watching how packs treated Alpha blood back at Ashford. Others reacted differently. I caught a pair of younger warriors muttering to each other near the door, their eyes flicking toward me with open resentment before they looked away, unwilling to be caught staring. By midweek I’d learned to read the room the moment I entered it, sorting faces into categories almost without meaning to: curious, wary, resentful, and a small but growing handful who simply watched me the way you’d watch weather rolling in, careful and attentive, waiting to see what shape it would eventually take.“You’re famo

FREYAThe messenger arrived four days later, dressed in Ashford colors I hadn’t seen in over a month, colors that still managed to twist a cold, unwelcome feeling low in my stomach the moment I spotted him crossing the courtyard. He didn’t linger, didn’t ask to see me directly, simply delivered his envelope to the front door and left again before I’d even fully registered what was happening, as though the errand itself embarrassed him.I was coming back from training, sweat-soaked and sore in ways that had become almost familiar by now, when Mara caught me at the door with an expression I couldn’t quite read, careful in a way that immediately put me on edge.“There’s a letter for you,” she said. “Delivered directly. The messenger insisted.”She handed it over without further explanation, and I recognized the seal before I’d even fully unfolded it, the pressed wax stamped with the Aurelius crest, the same seal that had marked every formal correspondence during my engagement to Lucian.

FREYA“Sit down,” Kendrick said, gesturing toward the small chair by the window. “This will take a while to explain properly, and I’d rather you hear all of it before you form any conclusions.”I sat, my pulse already climbing, some old instinct warning me that whatever came next would reshape things I’d only just started to feel settled about, things I’d fought hard to earn even a little peace around. Kendrick rarely asked anyone to sit before delivering news, in my limited experience of him so far, which alone told me this particular conversation was going to matter more than most.“Lucian’s reputation has taken serious damage since the ceremony,” Kendrick began, pacing a slow line across the small room. “You exposed his affair in front of the entire kingdom, in the most public setting possible, on what was supposed to be his triumphant engagement announcement. That was not a private embarrassment. It caused a political catastrophe, and every neighboring pack has been watching it un