Alle Kapitel von bride of vengeance : Kapitel 41 – Kapitel 50

Valeria's POVThe door creaked the rest of the way open under its own strange will, ancient hinges groaning in protest after what felt like years, maybe decades, of complete disuse.A wave of cold air spilled out into the corridor around me, washing over my skin and raising goosebumps along my arms despite the layers I'd dressed in before leaving my room. It smelled of dust and something else beneath it, something old and faintly metallic, like the scent that lingers in the air long after a storm has passed.I hesitated at the threshold, every instinct honed by twelve years of careful training screaming at me to consider the danger before stepping forward. A door that opens itself. A key that glows and pulses like something alive. None of it fit any pattern I understood, and unfamiliar patterns had gotten people killed in every mission I'd ever trained for.Pero no tengo opción. I didn't really have a choice, not anymore. Not after everything I'd already seen, everything I'd already s

Valeria's POVAlejandro stared at the creature. I stared at the creature. For a long moment, none of us moved, the whole corridor frozen in a strange, uneasy silence broken only by the faint sound of my own ragged breathing, still catching up from the chase that had brought me crashing into his arms only moments before.The creature stayed low, its twisted limbs folded beneath it in that same unnatural posture of submission, its black eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my skin crawl even now, even kneeling, even harmless for the moment.Then it lowered its head further, and spoke.Its voice sounded ancient. Broken. As though unused for centuries, each word scraped out like rust being forced through old metal, dragging itself free of a throat that hadn't shaped language in longer than I could imagine."My Queen."The words echoed through the corridor, bouncing off dusty walls that hadn't heard a voice in years, settling over me with a weight I wasn't prepared for. I felt them

Across the continent, four rulers had the exact same nightmare.A black moon hanging low over a burning throne. A silver-eyed queen rising out of ash and shadow. Oceans of blood spreading in every direction, swallowing kingdoms whole.They woke at the exact same moment.Different kingdoms. Different lands. Different continents, separated by mountains and seas and centuries of careful distance. But all four rulers sat up in their beds at the same heartbeat, sweat soaking through royal linens, the same silver-eyed image burned behind their eyes.In the eastern kingdom of Solheim, an aging king clutched at his chest, certain for one terrifying moment that his heart had simply stopped from the shock of it. In the southern territories, a young queen who had only worn her crown for three years sat bolt upright and immediately called for her guards, convinced an assassin had somehow slipped poison into her wine before bed. Across the northern seas, a warrior-king who hadn't shown fear in dec

Valeria's POVMinutes later, I slipped quietly into the garden.I'd dressed fast, pulling on the same dark clothes I always wore for exactly this kind of secret unsanctioned movement through the palace grounds, my dagger tucked close against my hip out of habit more than any real expectation I'd need it. The night air felt colder than it had from my balcony, sharper against my skin as I crept between rows of moon roses, my steps careful and silent out of habit rather than necessity.No guards patrolled this section tonight, or if they did, I moved fast enough and quiet enough not to cross paths with them. Twelve years of training made slipping through a garden almost too easy, my feet finding the softest patches of grass without conscious thought, avoiding the gravel paths that would have given away my presence with every step.The spot where Ricardo had stood was empty.Except for a ring.I knelt slowly, my heart already pounding, and studied it without touching it at first, the sam

*Valeria's POV*The palace erupted into chaos.Generals rushed through the corridors, their boots pounding against stone hard enough that I felt it through my own feet, through the cold floor beneath me. Messengers ran in every direction, some barely dressed, clearly pulled straight from their beds the moment the war horns sounded three times over. One young man ran past me with his tunic only half laced, a scroll clutched tight in his fist, his face pale as candle wax.Servants pressed themselves against the walls to let the rush of soldiers pass, their faces pale with a fear that seemed to spread faster than any actual news could travel. I caught snippets of whispered conversation as I moved through the halls behind Alejandro. *An army. At the border. Thousands of them.* Nobody seemed to know more than that, and the not-knowing seemed to frighten them worse than any confirmed danger could have.Alejandro headed straight for the war room, his stride long and fast, his shoulders set i