Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 51 - Chapitre 60

Word finally arrived two days later; Garrick and Brennan had crossed safely back into Thorne territory, exhausted and travel-worn but otherwise unharmed beyond Brennan's minor wound, met by the riders Kade had dispatched at the earliest possible point along the border road.Those two days of waiting had stretched interminably for the entire household, Aria noticed, ordinary tasks performed with distracted attention, conversations trailing off as anxious ears strained for any sound of approaching riders, Mira in particular moving through her duties with a pale, careful composure that fooled no one who knew her well enough to see through it.Aria felt the relief settle through her entire body when Rurik delivered the news, and found herself hurrying toward the compound's main gate alongside Kade without a single thought toward the formal composure such occasions ordinarily required.They arrived just as Garrick's small party rode through the gate, and Aria watched, with quiet satisfacti

Three days after the private audience, word arrived that the mercenary encampment had begun dismantling as promised, Frostbourne riders confirmed by Thorne border patrols, the disciplined tent rows Garrick had once documented now steadily disappearing as paid soldiers collected their final wages and dispersed back toward whatever territories had originally supplied them.Garrick himself insisted on personally verifying the reports, riding out once more to the border alongside a small patrol to observe the dismantlement firsthand rather than relying solely on secondhand accounts. He returned four days later with confirmation considerably more reassuring than Aria had allowed herself to fully expect."It's genuine," he reported, settling into Kade's study still travel-worn from the journey. "I counted considerably fewer tents than my previous report, and the remaining soldiers appeared to be striking camp in an orderly, unhurried fashion rather than the kind of rushed withdrawal that mi

Two weeks into the joyful, careful adjustment to her pregnancy, Aria fell seriously ill one evening after her customary evening tea. This violent, sudden sickness sent the entire household into immediate, frightened alarm.She had been sitting with Kade in their private chambers, reviewing the latest correspondence from the joint trade councils, when the first wave of nausea struck considerably harder than the ordinary discomfort she'd grown accustomed to these past two weeks. Within minutes, the illness had escalated into something violent and frightening, her vision swimming as a fever rose with alarming speed.Kade summoned the healer within minutes, his composure fraying visibly as he watched Aria's condition worsen rather than improve over the following hour, her fever climbing alongside a persistent, dangerous nausea that bore little resemblance to the ordinary morning sickness she'd grown accustomed to these past two weeks."This isn't simple pregnancy illness," the healer said

Ronan's investigation, once he returned to Frostbourne territory, proceeded with considerably more speed than he'd anticipated; speed that troubled him nearly as much as the proof itself, once it finally emerged.He traveled the final stretch home in tense, watchful silence, his earlier resolve tempered by genuine uncertainty about what he might actually discover once he began looking closely at a man he'd trusted as his closest advisor for the better part of two years. Vell had served alongside him through his father's death, through the difficult challenge against his brother, through every uncertain early month of his contested rule. Betrayal from such a source cut considerably deeper than mere political opposition ever could.He began quietly, reviewing his own household's recent correspondence and financial records with careful, methodical attention, cross-referencing Garrick's detailed report against Vell's known movements and associations. It took only two days

Mira and Garrick's wedding took place on a bright early summer morning, the same garden that had witnessed both Aria's true vow renewal and countless other significant moments now transformed once more for a celebration considerably simpler than any formal Council ceremony, but no less joyful for its modest scale.Aria attended heavily pregnant now, her seventh month settling into place with a particular weariness the healer assured her was entirely ordinary, though she found herself grateful when Kade arranged a comfortable seat near the front of the small gathering rather than expecting her to stand through the ceremony's full duration."You look radiant," Elena said, settling beside her as they watched Mira make her way toward Garrick, dressed in simple, elegant blue that suited her considerably better than any elaborate formal gown might have managed. "Though I suspect you're rather more focused on your own aching feet than the ceremony itself, at this particular s