บททั้งหมดของ Rejected: The Lycan's King Fated Mate : บทที่ 21 - บทที่ 30

Two weeks after the coronation, and the Citadel finally felt quiet. No more Council meetings. No more threats at the gates. No more blood on the stone. Just the soft sound of Aria’s breathing and the crackle of the hearth in our chambers. For the first time since I came back, we were all under one roof. Safe. Together. Darius had insisted we all sleep in the same room tonight. “No more separating,” he’d said, carrying a yawning Aria from the nursery. “Not after everything.” So here we were. A Lycan King, a Lycan Queen, a 5-year-old Lycan Prince, and a 2-week-old Lycan Princess all in one massive bed that used to belong to Darius’s ancestors. It was ridiculous. And perfect. Elias was curled against my side, one arm protectively thrown over Aria’s bassinet even though she was asleep. At 5 he took his big brother job very seriously. He’d spent the whole week teaching her how to howl, which mostly resulted in him making weird noises and her staring at him like he was insane.

Dawn bled across the Moon Field in shades of gold and silver. Kade was already there when we arrived. Alone. No army. No Alpha enforcers. No Council tricks this time. Just him, standing at the center of the field with his hands empty and his head bowed like a wolf submitting to a stronger pack. He looked different in the morning light. Older. Tired. The golden Alpha arrogance was gone, stripped away by the duel and the truth. I held Aria close against my chest, wrapped in silver Lycan blankets. Darius stood to my right, hand resting on his sword. Elias stood to my left, small training dagger in hand and eyes locked on Kade like a hawk. For a long moment, nobody spoke. Kade finally looked up. His eyes went straight to Aria. “So it’s true,” he whispered. “Blood moon birth. Silver hair. Moon’s true daughter.” Darius stepped forward, blocking his view slightly. “You have 60 seconds, Kade. Then we leave.” Kade didn’t flinch. He just knelt. Right there in the frost. Alph

They came at dawn. Not the Fae. Not the Vampires. Not the Witches alone. All of them. The horizon was a wall of color and magic and malice. Black Vampire banners with red moons. Green Fae banners that shimmered like leaves in wind. Purple Witch banners marked with silver runes. And in the center, the Arcane Council’s silver sigil. Magister Thorne hadn’t been lying about them mobilizing. I stood on the Citadel walls with Darius, Kade, and Elias at my back. Aria was safe in the deep vaults with Roric and the healers. Elias had fought me on it for 10 minutes until I looked at him and said: “The shield protects the blade. You can’t do that if you’re dead.” He’d hated it. But he’d agreed. “They’re bluffing,” Kade said, but his voice wasn’t sure. “They can’t really attack. Not all at once. Not without starting a war that burns every realm.” “They will if they think the risk is worth it,” Darius said grimly. “Moonblood is worth it to them.” Below us, 5,000 Lycans stood in formati

The battle ended at noon. We won. But “won” felt like the wrong word when I walked through the Citadel afterward. The gates were gone. The outer wall had a 40-foot breach where Thorne’s magic hit. The training yard was a graveyard of bodies - Vampire, Fae, Witch, and Lycan all mixed together in the mud. And the smell… gods, the smell of blood and burnt magic and death was everywhere. Roric survived. Barely. He’d be in the healers’ wing for weeks with a broken spine. The two healers from the vault were dead. Thorne’s traitor Lycans were all dead too. Every single one. Elder Vex’s brother had died with a smile on his face, like he’d accomplished what he came for. I found Darius in the courtyard, covered in blood that wasn’t all his, holding Elias who was shaking despite trying not to. “You’re okay,” Darius said the second he saw me, pulling both me and Aria into a hug so tight I couldn’t breathe. “You’re both okay.” “We’re okay,” I whispered back, kissing Aria’s head.

We started training at sunrise. No time to waste. Not after the Moonstone’s warning and that vision of darkness. Not after Aria threw a 400-year-old Magister across a room like he weighed nothing. The training grounds were a mess from the battle, so we used the inner courtyard. Stone walls on all sides, healers on standby, and Roric watching from a cot because he refused to miss this even with a broken spine. Aria was in the center, sitting on a blanket with her tiny hands on her knees. She was 3 weeks old now, but she looked bigger somehow. Stronger. Her gold eyes tracked everything with that unsettling focus that made my skin crawl. Elias stood to her left as the shield. Kade stood to her right as the “what not to do” example. Darius and I stood in front of her. “We’re not teaching her to fight,” I said firmly, looking at all of them. “We’re teaching her to control. Moonblood reacts to emotion. So step one is learning to feel without losing control.” Darius nodded and kn