Lahat ng Kabanata ng Reborn Before the Mark: I Married His Wolfless Uncle: Kabanata 81 - Kabanata 90

Karl’s conditional claim—my wife, if you will still choose to be—followed Lorelai out of the council chamber.She did not answer it. By afternoon, they were inspecting the damaged northern barrier together.They worked as administrator and commander, not as husband and wife. Even so, the narrow wall kept forcing Karl’s shoulder against hers as they followed the same line of stones.The sabotage had weakened three support posts beneath the outer walkway. Workers had replaced the visible braces, but Lorelai crouched beside the lowest beam and found damp soil packed against its base.“This will shift during the next heavy rain.”Karl knelt beside her. His knee pressed against hers. Neither moved.“The drainage trench should pull water east,” he said.“It did before someone filled it.”Lorelai pushed one gloved hand into the mud. Beneath the loose soil, her fingers struck

Caelan offered Moonridge’s future Luna title as though it could undo Lorelai’s choice. Lorelai closed the legal challenge beneath her hand.“No.”Caelan searched her face.“You did not consider it.”“I considered it before you finished speaking.”Karl stayed near the administrative-office door and never interrupted. The wolf he held under control still reached Caelan’s senses.His gaze moved past Lorelai, then back to the faint trace of Karl still clinging to her coat. Jealousy showed in every line of his face.“You should change before we continue.”Lorelai looked down at herself.“My coat is clean.”“That is not what I meant.”“I know.”Karl’s hand flexed at his side. He did not move closer. Lorelai gathered the storehouse keys, administrative seal, and morning inspection tablets.&ldq

The decree looked like rescue until Lorelai read who owned every lock. Caelan returned to the administrative office before noon carrying the sealed Ashborne order and placed it beside the grain-allocation tablets as though both belonged to the same kind of authority.“This is not another proposal,” he said. “It is a formal protection decision.”Karl stood near the open doorway. He had entered only with Lorelai’s permission and now stood silent against the doorframe, well clear of her desk. Caelan noticed him immediately.Then Caelan caught Karl’s scent on Lorelai’s unchanged coat. His wolf pushed close enough to sharpen his eyes.“You did not change your coat.”Lorelai continued sorting the morning supply tokens.“You did not change your argument.”Caelan broke the Ashborne seal. The decree unfolded across the visible accounts. Moonridge residence under protected status.A guaranteed political role within the future Luna’s household. Independent rooms. A personal allowance. An armed es

At Greyhaven’s western gate, Lorelai gave Caelan the answer before he could rebuild the question.“Yes.”Caelan’s expression stayed fixed. Either he did not believe her, or he trusted the bond, Karl’s scent, and Greyhaven’s walls more than her own words. Lorelai shut the document case against her chest.“Come to the gate.”Karl looked up at once. Caelan glanced past her toward him.“Alone?”“Yes.”The bond-scar tightened at the satisfaction crossing Caelan’s face. Lorelai ignored the reflex and turned to Karl.“Remain in the courtyard.”Caelan swallowed.“No guards within listening distance either,” she added.Karl’s wolf rose close. No command shaped it. Fear.The western gate stood within Greyhaven’s walls, yet the road beyond it ran straight toward the Blackwater marches. Noctis agents were still at large, Caesar was alive in the cells, and Arthur had already proved that a uniform and a gate could promise nothing.Karl’s attention moved from the western gate to Lorelai. He held out

The reserve team could extract Lorelai’s address from a compromised property index. Edda sealed the property office while Maria separated the registry clerks, copyists, and messengers who had handled the transfer.Lorelai left the cells with Caesar’s code sealed inside two separate evidence sleeves. Karl waited beyond the barred passage.His eyes swept her from head to boots, searching for injury with the thoroughness danger always drew from him.“Someone breached this house,” he said.“It was never secure. We only believed the attack had not started.”Karl’s attention shifted to the cells, his face set.“I will place fighters around it.”“No.”The wolf rose close. She met Karl’s eyes.“I choose the sentinels. I choose where they stand. No visible ring around the house.”“They know the address.”“That makes the house useful.”Karl stopped.“You intend to remain inside.”“I intend to make them believe I will.”In the administrative office, Lorelai scattered the sensitive records instead