All Chapters of The King's Hart : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The list of five suspects burned in my pocket, but it was the name not on the list that kept me awake. Margot Valcourt. The woman who'd offered us an alliance. The woman who'd revealed my father was alive. The woman who'd sworn her family were archivists, not hunters. And all along, the Ashfords had been inside her network. The text from the unknown enemy had said it plainly: the Valcourt leak wasn't a leak at all. It was Margot herself.I stood in the library at dawn, the pale winter light bleeding through the windows, staring at my phone. The message was still there. The Ashfords have been inside the Valcourts all along. If that was true, if Margot was the real threat then everything we'd built in the past few weeks was a house of cards waiting to collapse. The protection. The safe houses. The intelligence network. All of it compromised. And Helena Frost, the Valcourt agent who'd broken cover to warn me, might already be dead."Sophie." Jace's voice pulled me back. He was standing i

The list was wrong. It had to be. Seven names stared back at me from my notebook—Sophie, Jace, Celeste, Margot, Helena, Marcus, Ava—and every single one felt impossible. I'd spent the past three days watching each of them like a hawk, cataloguing conversations, tracking movements, searching for the silver glint of Volkov eyes that would mark them as a traitor. But I'd found nothing. And the draft was now eleven days away.Jace stood at my apartment window, his silhouette sharp against the pale morning light. He'd been quiet since we left the compound—not withdrawn, not pushing me away, but thinking. I recognized the look now. The same one he wore before a big game, calculating angles and probabilities, searching for the opening that would win everything."You've been staring at that list for an hour," he said without turning around."I've been staring at it for three days. It's not giving me any answers.""Then maybe we're asking the wrong question." He turned to face me. "We've been

Marcus's silver eyes reflected the warehouse lights like mirrors, and in them, I saw every moment he'd been there—every study session, every coffee, every time he'd told me Jace was dangerous and I should walk away. He wasn't protecting me. He was isolating me. The same way Gregory had isolated Jace. The same way Diane had isolated Margot. All of them, working different angles of the same terrible plan."Say something," Marcus said. His voice was calm, but his hands were shaking at his sides. "Scream at me. Tell me I'm a monster. I deserve it.""You're Volkov." The words scraped out of my throat. "The whole time. From the very beginning.""From before the beginning. I was assigned to watch the Kingston heir when I was sixteen. The Volkovs knew Gregory was trying to activate the Aegis. They wanted to see if he'd succeed before they made their move." He took a step closer, and Jace moved to block him. "I never wanted to hurt you, Sophie. That part was real. Everything I felt for you—""

The first Volkov agent crashed through the glass before anyone could move. Shards exploded across the ice like frozen rain, and then they were everywhere—pouring through the shattered doors, their silver eyes cutting through the dark arena like cold fire. Twelve of them. Maybe more. I grabbed Marcus by the front of his bloodied jacket and dragged him behind the boards as a wave of pressure slammed into the spot where he'd been standing."They sent a kill squad," he gasped, pressing a hand to the gash on his forehead. "Not a recruitment team. The voided contract triggered a full termination order. They're here to eliminate everyone."Jace was already moving. His eyes flared gold, and the air around him shimmered with heat. "Celeste, protect Sophie. Helena, get Margot to the Valcourt safe house. Marcus—""I'm fighting." Marcus pushed himself upright, his silver eyes steady despite the blood streaming down his face. "I burned my life for this. Let me finish it."Jace didn't argue. He jus

The draft venue glowed like a cathedral of glass and steel, every window blazing with light against the dark winter sky. We stood at the edge of the crowd, Jace's hand wrapped around mine, the roar of ten thousand voices rumbling through the walls. Somewhere inside, scouts and cameras and three Volkov agents were waiting. Somewhere inside, my father was in the front row."You ready?" I asked."No." Jace's eyes flickered gold, but steady. Controlled. "But I'm done letting fear make my decisions."We walked through the side entrance together. The hallway stretched ahead, lined with framed jerseys and championship banners. Halfway down, Celeste emerged from the shadows. "The Volkov agents are in position. Security, media, one scout. They're watching every entrance.""Let them watch." Jace's voice was calm. "I'm not their weapon anymore."Helena met us at the tunnel entrance with a clipboard and a grim expression. "Ava's story just went live. Every major outlet is picking it up. The blood