Alle Kapitel von The Beta's Forsaken Daughter : Kapitel 101 – Kapitel 110

Isabella POV I did not sleep. Killian did, in the end. He fell asleep sitting up against the headboard, one hand still wrapped around mine, like he was afraid I would disappear. I let him. He needed it more than I did. I sat there in the dark and stared at the little pile of ash on the carpet. Something was bothering me. It had been bothering me since the paper caught fire, and it kept tugging at my brain like a loose thread. The note said, "The gray one is listening. He is always listening." But Killian had read the note out loud. And it was only after he read it that the crescent mark glowed purple. I sat up straighter. The mark did not glow when the note was put on the pillow. It did not glow when Killian opened it. It only lit up when he spoke the words. "It was not the room," I whispered. "It was the paper." The gray man was not hiding in our walls. He did not need to. He had put a piece of himself inside the note, and it listened to everything said near it. It

Isabella POV "We cannot use the letter anymore," I said. "I know," said Killian. "They heard everything." "I know that too." We were standing in the east corridor with the apple blossom still in my hand. Valerie hovered beside us, pale and shaky. Marcus had already sent three men running to the kitchens to check the bread basket. They came back ten minutes later with an empty basket and no letter. Somebody had taken it. Somebody had read it. And now somebody was laughing at us. "So the whole plan is dead," Valerie said in a small voice. "The plan is changed," I said. "That is different." "Is it?" "It has to be." I turned the blossom over in my fingers. It was still fresh. It still smelled sweet. "Someone is playing with us. Not hurting us yet. Playing. And I think that means they are not as sure as they want us to believe." Killian gave me a long look. "Explain." "If they were certain we would walk into the trap, they would not send warnings. They would just wait." I held u

Killian POV"No one entered the grove," said Marcus."Someone did.""Not through the gates. Not through the walls. I had six men on the outer path from midnight until dawn." He rubbed the back of his neck, frowning at the little black crescent on the birch bark. "Your Majesty, I am telling you, a rabbit could not have slipped past them.""Then it was not a rabbit."We were standing in the moon grove, an hour after sunrise. Isabella had gone back to the palace with Valerie, who had insisted on feeding her toast and tea until she stopped shaking. I had stayed behind with Marcus and a very quiet carpenter, who was carefully cutting the whole piece of bark out of the tree."Burn it," I said."Not yet." The carpenter held up one hand. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, but the sap is still wet. If we burn it now, whoever made it will know we found it.""How would they know?""Moon craft leaves a thread. A good caster feels it snap." He looked nervous. "I only know because my grandmother used to te

Isabella POVBy the sixth morning, my hands knew the way to the iron door without my help.I did not need to think anymore. I closed my eyes in the moon grove, felt Killian's warm presence settle beside me like a second heartbeat, and the grey hallway simply appeared. Stone floor. Cold air. The big rusted door at the end, wrapped in its heavy chains."You are getting faster," Killian's wolf said inside my head. His voice was deep and slow and kind. "Last time it took you ten minutes to reach it.""I know where it is now.""That is good. Knowing is half the battle.""What is the other half?""Touching the chain without running away.""I only ran away twice.""Three times.""Four, if you count the one where I fainted."A low, amused rumble rolled through the hallway. "I will not count that one."I smiled, even though my stomach was twisting. Then I walked forward and laid my palm flat on the nearest chain.The cold bit into my skin. The memory came at once. The freezing kitchen. The pla

Isabella POV"Your arm," said Winifred."What about it?""Show me the inside of your wrist."It was barely dawn. We had walked to the moon grove in silence, with Killian's hand warm around mine and my stomach full of nervous butterflies. I was wearing an old pair of training trousers and a loose shirt, because Winifred said clothes do not survive a first shift, and I did not want to ruin anything nice.Now the old woman had stopped in the middle of the clearing, her thin fingers closed around my wrist, her face gone strangely still."There," she said. "Do you see it?"I looked down.A thin black line curved across the pale skin, just below my pulse. It was no longer than my little finger. It was shaped like a crescent moon.Killian's growl rolled through the grove like thunder."Where did that come from?" he demanded."I did not have it yesterday," I whispered."No. You would not have." Winifred let go of my arm, frowning. "It appeared last night. When the bond finished.""That is not