The Captain's Forbidden Mate のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 51 - チャプター 60

LENABy the time Noah and I got to the library, Noah had already turned the back corner into some sort of war room, complete with documents spilled across two joined tables, the overhead lights somehow making it all look even gloomier than it already was.Damien was waiting when we got there, paler than usual, which was saying something. Astra arrived a few minutes later, and as soon as we were settled, I sent Aiden a text asking if he was coming, since he hadn't been there when we left the rink.He turned out to be there all along, appearing silently in the corner like always."Show me," was the first thing he said.I handed him the letter, watching his carefully schooled expression carefully as he read the note. The mask was already sliding away as he neared the end, revealing pensive worry beneath it."Thorne." Aiden finally said, eyes fixed on the end of the note. "I wondered when he'd show up.""You know him?" Cole asked."I knew him. Twenty-two years ago, before...before all of

LENAThe letter had come on official council letterhead, which somehow made it infinitely worse than if it had merely been yet another scrawled note pushed under a door.Cole read twice in silence at the kitchen table, jaw tightening with each successive read, before finally pushing it across to me.The council is requesting the presence of Cole Silverclaw and Lena Corwin regarding an unresolved procedural issue involving the treaty renewal, which was interrupted during the recent claiming ceremony. Failure to appear for this hearing will result in the claiming being placed under formal review."You're reviewing his claiming," I said, frowning at the page. "What does that even mean?""It means someone finally found a way to threaten us without bringing any accusations." Cole's voice was perfectly measured, the way it always was when he was doing his best to keep ahold of something else buried underneath it. "The treaty renewal was supposed to take place the same evening as the ceremon

LENAWaiting was the worst part, worse than the ceremony, worse than the diner talk that threatened to unravel everything I thought I understood.Cole and I sat in his apartment with our phones face-up on the coffee table, silent, the two of us barely speaking as the hours dragged past nine, then ten, then eleven. Aiden had insisted on radio silence, no check-ins, nothing that could be traced or intercepted should something go wrong. Logically, I understood it. Emotionally, every second of silence felt like a personal, subtle torture."He'll be fine," Cole said, for the fourth time in an hour, though I suspected he was saying it primarily for his own comfort."You don't know that.""No," he admitted, "but being able to say this out loud helps a little. Humor me."I managed something close to a laugh with a wobbly stomach, leaning into his side as I watched the clock on the wall tick forward with a level of patience I didn't actually feel. Somewhere, across town, Aiden and Damien were

LENAThe address Aiden gave us led us to a small shop squeezed in between a laundry and a shuttered store. The kind of place that seemed to have been fading for two decades.A bell chimed wearily at our entrance. Shelves stacked to the ceiling with forgotten stories stood in the dimly lit room. The scent of decades of dust and paper hung in the air. And the woman who looked up from the book on the counter regarded us with an odd mixture of curiosity and guardedness. Especially as she leaned in to see Aiden. "Aiden Holt," she murmured, laying down the volume she'd been studying. "I thought you were dead.""Everyone did, as I'm aware, and for a rather large period of time, which does rather explain why I'm here." The usually icy composure in Aiden's posture bent just enough to almost be amiable. "Ivy. It's been an age."Her gaze lingered on him, something unreadable flickering across her features, but she settled on the rest of us quickly enough. "And these are?" Cole Silverclaw. Lena C

LENADespite the torches being unlit, the stone hall seemed different in daylight, especially the high windows I hadn't noticed the night of the ceremony.and that could not have been good.Cole's hand was still clasped in mine as we walked in, steady despite the circumstances, and I held on as we crossed the same stone floor where we'd bound ourselves to each other weeks ago. The council table was fully occupied this time, all seven elders present, and I found myself cataloguing faces like Astra had taught me, looking for any giveaways on who I should be wary of aside from the two names I knew.Vane was presiding over the meeting, dry and unconcerned, the same voice that'd pronounced our bond witnessed and sealed now poised to peel it apart."We convene,"he said,"to complete the treaty renewal interrupted during the recent claiming ceremony and to address any outstanding matters affecting its validity."I caught Okafor's eye across the table briefly, something carefully unreadable