All Chapters of Rejected By My Alpha Mate, Claimed By The Cursed Lycan King : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Kael's POVI didn't sleep much that night, turning over the sound of that door closing again and again in my mind, trying to convince myself it had been nothing more than a servant caught out later than they should have been, though the careful, deliberate quiet of the retreat told a different story, one I didn't much like the shape of.By morning I'd made a decision, and I found Soren in the training yard before the sun had fully cleared the eastern wall, already moving through drills with two of the younger guards, though he broke off the moment he saw my face."That's not your usual morning expression," he said, waving the guards off to give us privacy. "What happened?"I told him about the garden, about the figure in the archway, about the scent of court robes that could have belonged to half the elders in the castle, and watched his easy expression sharpen into something more serious as I spoke."You think it was Mathis.""I think it's a possibility I can't afford to ignore, not

Elara's POVNone of us slept easily after Soren's report, and by the next morning I found myself standing at my window long before the household usually stirred, watching the mist curl low over the garden where everything had felt so simple and certain only days before, and wondering how something that had felt like the safest place in the world could so quickly become a place I now watched for shadows in every archway.Kael found me there, his own eyes shadowed with the same lack of sleep, and for a moment neither of us said anything, simply standing together in the quiet, gathering the strength for whatever the day was about to ask of us."I want to write to Vesna," I said finally. "Directly. Not through court channels, not through anything Mathis could intercept. If her name is being used without her knowledge, she deserves to know. And if it isn't, I'd rather find that out honestly than keep guessing in the dark.""That's a risk," Kael said carefully. "If she is involved, you'd be

Elara's POVSoren brought the news to us just after breakfast, his expression caught somewhere between wary and confused, the kind of look that told me whatever he was about to say wasn't going to be simple."There's someone at the border asking to see Elara," he said. "Alone, if she's willing. He says it's urgent, and he says he's not here on his father's business."My stomach dropped before he even said the name, some old instinct already recognizing the shape of what was coming, and when Soren finally said it. Ryker, I felt Kael go rigid beside me at the breakfast table, his jaw tightening in a way I recognized from the very first morning at the border weeks ago."Absolutely not," Kael said. "Not alone. Not after everything we've just learned about his father's involvement with Mathis.""He might be here because of that involvement," I said carefully, though my own pulse was racing at the thought of standing in front of Ryker again, at the memory of the clearing still sharp enoug

Elara's POVThe days following Mathis's removal from the council brought a strange kind of quiet to Nightfall Hollow, not the uneasy quiet of watching shadows in archways, but something closer to relief, Like the whole castle had been holding its breath for weeks without realizing it and had only just remembered how to breathe normally again."You look lighter today," Nyra observed, watching me across the library table where we'd fallen back into our usual morning routine, though the texts in front of us now had less to do with ancient bloodlines and more to do with simple, practical matters, court customs, the history of Nightfall Hollow's founding, things I found myself wanting to learn now rather than needing to for survival."I feel lighter," I admitted, closing the book I'd been only half reading. "I didn't realize how much weight I was carrying, waiting for the next thing to go wrong, until some of it actually lifted.""Enjoy it while it lasts," Nyra said, though there was war

Elara's POVMira arrived within days of receiving my letter, barely giving herself time to pack before making the journey back to Nightfall Hollow. The moment she saw the ring on my finger she let out a sound somewhere between a shriek and a laugh that had half the castle staff poking their heads out of doorways to see what the commotion was about."You're getting married," she said, grabbing my hands and staring at the ring like she could hardly believe it, though the smile stretching across her face made it clear she believed it plenty. "Elara Married, To an actual freaking King. I need you to understand that when we were sixteen and I told you someday you'd find someone who deserved you, I did not mean an ancient Lycan monarch. But I'll absolutely take credit for the prediction regardless."I laughed, pulling her into a hug, grateful beyond words to have her here for this. Someone who'd known me since before any of this began. Before the mark, before the curse, before I'd eve