บททั้งหมดของ The Mate Hunt: บทที่ 181 - บทที่ 184

MaeveThe corridor beneath the eastern wing smelled like stone, cedar smoke, and the faint bitterness of the herbs Elowen insisted on burning in every secure room.It did not smell like a dungeon.That mattered to me more than I wanted to admit.Mara was a prisoner. She was Caine blood debt. Nothing about that had changed.But I had refused to let punishment become cruelty simply because cruelty would have been easier.There were windows in her room now. A real bed. Books. A table. A small washroom behind another door. Guards remained outside at all hours, and silver had been worked discreetly into the frame so she could not shift her way through the walls.She was contained. She was not buried alive. My footsteps sounded too loud against the stone as I approached, echoing off walls that had listened to far worse conversations than the one I was about to have.Ronan walked beside me until we reached the last turn. Then he stopped.I looked at him. He looked at the closed door at the

RonanCaine did not become quiet until long after midnight.The fires in the courtyard had burned low hours ago, but traces of the celebration still drifted through the open bedroom window. Someone laughed in the distance. A door closed somewhere below us. The faint smell of smoke, roasted meat, and pine clung to the night air, tangled together with the cool breeze moving through the curtains.It had been a good day.I could not remember the last time I had been able to think that without immediately waiting for something terrible to follow.A good day. Nothing more complicated than that.Soren had sworn herself to Maeve for life. Cyn had finally been given the rank he had already earned. The pack had eaten until Gemma complained that she had underestimated how much food several hundred wolves could consume when given an excuse. There had been music. Children running between tables. Older wolves telling stories. Maeve had laughed until her cheeks turned pink.And nobody had died. Nobo