All Chapters of MARKED BY FATE: THE ALPHA PRINCE'S REGRET: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Serrin Draveth stalked into the clearing like she already owned it, every step screaming confidence, like she'd played out this win a hundred times in her head."Little Seer," she said again, circling the edge of the clearing, her fighters fanning out behind her in practiced formation. "You've had your gift for what an hour? Two? And you think that's enough to stand against me.""Ivy, don't," Rhys said under his breath, already shifting his weight between me and the nearest fighter. "You don't know what this costs yet.""I know what staying quiet has cost me my whole life," I said, and stepped forward before I could talk myself out of it.Serrin's smile stretched wider, hungry and bright, like I'd just handed her the prize she'd been waiting for.I shoved away every thought about limits. All I could see was the ceremony hall, the laughter, every lie I'd swallowed for twenty-two years just to survive. Speaking had always felt more dangerous than disappearing. But I let all of it burn t

I didn't stay inside.Rhys called after me, but I was already gone. I pushed through the door and into the pale morning light. A dozen royal guards waited in the courtyard, their gold-and-black banners snapping in the wind. Kaelan stood in the center, unshifted, hands loose at his sides. He looked like surrender cost him nothing. But I could see now exactly how much it hurt him.The captain of the guard swung down from his horse and strode toward Kaelan. He was broad-shouldered, cold-eyed, and didn't bother with ceremony."Prince Kaelan. You'll surrender your weapons and come with us to the capital, where the King's council will hear the charges against you.""I understand," Kaelan said evenly. "I'll come without incident.""Good." The captain's mouth curved, not quite a smile. "That'll make this easier."The way he said it made my skin crawl.I stepped forward before I even realized I was moving. My gift was raw and unpredictable, throbbing behind my eyes like a bruise. "Captain," I

The old execution grounds crouch in a hollow at the edge of Ashford territory, surrounded by trees so ancient and twisted they barely look alive. The forest wants to swallow this place whole, to erase what happened here. Even from the ridge, I feel it a heavy, sour wrongness pressing down on me, thick and suffocating, the kind that stains a place forever."Moonrise in twenty minutes," Rhys said, crouched beside me, voice low. "We won't get a better window than right now, while she's still finishing preparations."Down below, torchlight flickers around a stone circle half-swallowed by moss. It’s like Mira’s ritual circle, only bigger, older, carved with symbols that make my skin crawl just looking at them. Bianca’s tied up in the center, wide awake and terrified, her eyes darting to the trees like she’s begging for someone, anyone, to save her.Serrin stands over her, three fighters guarding the edge of the circle. She grips a blade that flashes in the torchlight, and just seeing it ma

"It's a trap," Rhys said flatly, the moment I finished describing the vision. "She told you as much herself. 'I'll leave the door unlocked.' That's not an invitation, Ivy. That's a hunter telling you exactly where she's set the snare.""I know what it is," I said. "That doesn't change that Kaelan's inside it.""Which is exactly why it works as bait," Rhys pressed. "She's not stupid. She knows you'll come regardless of the risk. That's the entire strategy."Mira froze the second I mentioned the second symbol under the Draveth crest. Her face went so grave my stomach dropped before she even opened her mouth."There's something you're not telling us," I said.Mira's jaw clenched. "The sealed site isn't just where the purge happened. It's where the ritual that split the Seer bloodline started. The real prophecy. Not just one Seer per generation, not just whoever survives a fight." She looked at me, eyes dark. "The ritual needs both Seers there, willing or not. Whoever finishes it doesn't

Nobody said a word on the ride back. The silence pressed in, heavy as the woods around us.Kaelan stayed close, his hand gripping mine whenever he could, like he was afraid to let go. Bianca rode ahead, flanked by two of Rhys’s warriors. She sat taller than I’d ever seen her, like surviving tonight had finally given her something she’d never found in all those years of being compared to me. Rhys brought up the rear, eyes sharp, every muscle tense. He looked like he was ready for anything to jump out of the shadows.Nobody said Serrin's name once.We didn’t breathe easy until we crossed back onto Sterling land. Mira fussed over us, her hands quick and anxious, but she said we’d live. No wounds that wouldn’t heal. Only then did it hit me everything we’d survived. We ended up in Rhys’s study, the four of us huddled around a fire that barely burned, too tired to care."She's not dead," Mira said into the silence, voicing the thing we'd all been avoiding. "I want to be honest with you abou