All Chapters of THE ALPHA'S FATED WITCH : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

EarleneCalculating the exact day a kingdom will collapse is a miserable way to spend a morning, but someone had to do it. The protective magic in my father’s bloodline was supposed to last for centuries. I gave it three weeks. Four, if the starving feral beasts in the woods decided to take their time."You’re doing it again."I didn't pull my hands away from the freezing warding stone. I recognized the gruff, exhausted voice of the courtyard captain. "Doing what, Marcus?""Staring at the rocks like they're going to speak to you," he muttered, his heavy boots stopping right behind me. "You aren't supposed to be out here, Earlene. The King wants the surroundings cleared.""The stone is dead, Marcus," I said, finally turning to face him. I held up my fingers, showing him the gray, brittle ash that had just rubbed off the monolith. "The rot is eating right through it."Marcus flinched. He looked around frantically, lowering his voice to a harsh hiss. "Keep your voice down. Do you want t

EarleneMy legs still burned from the effort of standing upright in the courtyard. When the Alpha finally walked in, the crushing weight of his aura followed him inside, leaving the garrison gasping for air behind him. I navigated the servant corridors quickly. I needed to hear the negotiations. My father was desperate, and his advisors were entirely incompetent. If I wanted to know whether we had three weeks or three days left to live, I had to listen to the Alpha’s verdict myself.I turned the corner toward the eastern stairwell and stopped. Lecia and Leith blocked the narrow hallway. They wore bright crimson dresses and heavy jeweled necklaces. Two young maids hovered around them, pinning their blonde hair into elaborate braids. My half-sisters never used the servant passages, but they were clearly waiting in the shadows to make a timed, dramatic entrance into the throne room.Lecia narrowed her eyes the moment she saw me. "What are you doing back here?""Walking," I said. I did

EarleneI had exactly one hour to pack my entire life. My hands were remarkably steady as I pulled my bag from under the narrow cot. I did not have much to take. Two extra dresses, a wool cloak that had belonged to my mother, and three thick books on military history and architecture I had quietly taken from the royal library over the years. I folded the dresses and placed them at the bottom of the bag.I was leaving the South. The reality of it was that simple. My father had traded me for an army, and in doing so, he had accidentally given me the only viable escape route from a dying kingdom.The wooden door to my room pushed open. No one bothered to knock.Lecia and Leith walked into the cramped space. Their wide crimson dresses practically filled the entire room, forcing them to stand awkwardly near the foot of my bed. The sheer terror they had shown in the throne room was completely gone. Now that they were safe, their usual cruelty had returned.Lecia stepped close to me. She re