جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

Chapter 22The private quarters of the Principal were located behind a hidden door in his primary office. It was a large, quiet room filled with black leather chairs, dark wooden shelves, and a massive fireplace. The only light came from the orange flames dancing over the burning logs.I stood on a small towel near the bathroom entrance. I had just changed into the fresh, dry work-study uniform Gideon had brought up. My long hair was still damp, resting against the collar of my crisp white shirt.The heat from the fireplace felt incredible against my cold skin, but my body was still exhausted from the magic burn.Alistair sat in a large leather chair near the fire. He had rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, revealing his thick, scarred forearms. He held a ceramic cup of dark soot-leaf tea in his large fingers, watching the flames. His heavy Alpha aura was quiet now, but it still filled the room like a thick blanket."Sit down, Evangeline," Alistair said without looking at me. Hi

CHAPTER 24The morning of the financial audit arrived with a thick, suffocating tension that seemed to hang over the entire campus. The sky outside was a dull, metallic gray, and a cold mist clung to the stone walls of the main building. Inside, the quiet was unnatural. The regular students walked quickly to their lectures, their voices dropped to low whispers as high-ranking Alpha guards in dark uniforms took up positions at every major intersection of the administrative wing.I stood at the far end of the grand gallery on the second floor, a dry microfiber cloth in my hand as I slowly wiped down the stone frame of a massive stained-glass window.My body felt hollow, a dull, throbbing ache radiating from the center of my chest where my royal magic lay tightly coiled. The midnight excursion into Cassandra’s archive had cost me dearly. The internal fire had left my throat raw, and every time I swallowed, the taste of dry copper reminded me that my time was running out. But inside my po

Chapter 26The top floor of the grand executive tower was a place where regular students were never allowed to set foot. It was a restricted zone, hidden far above the bustling classrooms and crowded hallways of Lunar Ridge Academy. To reach this level, a person needed more than just permission; they needed a physical pass. I held that very pass tightly in my hand, a special, heavy gold keycard that Officer Gideon had handed to me in the lower corridor without saying a single word. His dark eyes had been completely unreadable, but the card felt like iron against my palm.The silver elevator doors slid open with a soft, mechanical click, breaking the deep silence of the upper shaft. I stepped out onto the pristine floor of the private hallway, and the physical atmosphere changed instantly. The air was freezing cold, biting sharply at my bare neck and wrists. It carried a distinct, heavy scent that always made my heart race, the clean, crisp smell of frozen winter rain mixed with the ex

Chapter 28The clock on the wall of the private study read exactly midnight. The rest of the grand executive tower was completely dark, wrapped in the freezing silence of a late-night rainstorm. I stood before the central iron bookshelf, the soft white dusting cloth held loosely in my fingers.The room was illuminated only by the pale, silver moonlight cutting through the frost-covered glass windows. I reached out my hand and touched a thick, leather-bound volume of old historical texts. It was a book detailing the ancient royal boundaries of the high-ranking packs. I gripped the heavy spine and slowly pulled it out, intending to shift it a few inches out of alignment, just like I had done the night before."Click.”The sound of the heavy steel gate at the penthouse entrance echoed through the vast living room.I froze, my hand still resting on the leather book. The air in the study instantly turned freezing cold, dropping so fast that my breath turned into a thick white cloud in fron

Chapter 30The next morning, the grand hallway of the second floor was freezing cold. The heavy rain from the night before had stopped, leaving a thick, grey mist pressing against the tall stone windows. The bell for the first lecture had just rung, and groups of high-ranking students were hurrying down the wide corridor, their leather bags slapping against their uniforms.I stood near a large stone pillar, holding my long wooden mop.My body felt incredibly heavy, every muscle aching from the intense magic burn that had torn through my chest inside the penthouse. The internal fire had subsided into a dull, throbbing weight behind my ribs, leaving the familiar, dry taste of copper at the back of my throat. But my mind was completely sharp. The terms of surrender had been set. I was no longer just a maid clearing the corners of the tower; I was a shadow moving through the foundation of the Vance family line.Suddenly, the loud, casual chatter of the passing students stopped.The crowd