All Chapters of Rise of the Chubby Lunar Queen : Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

POV: AVASleep never really came that night. I stayed at Darius’s fortress anyway, drifting in and out until morning finally forced me out of bed.By early afternoon, Mira and I were walking through the outer streets of Hollow Fang. The farther we went from the fortress, the rougher everything became, with worn paths cutting between crooked houses and makeshift stalls.Then I noticed the dirt.It clung to everything. Boots, doorsteps, the hems of clothes. Even the air seemed to carry a thin grit that settled on my tongue whenever I breathed too deeply.Loose stones broke up the road, mixed with patches of dirt and the marks left behind by carts, boots, and whatever else had been hauled through there. The buildings were packed close together, their cracked walls and battered wooden doors showing signs of repairs that had gone on for years.Silvercrest had never looked like this.There, the streets were wide and kept clean, with polished buildings standing in neat rows. Even the poorer

POV: AVAThe prison courtyard smelled of wet earth and old iron, and the first thing I saw was Bethany chained to a wooden post in the middle of it.Mud streaked her dress from the hem to her knees, with more smeared across one cheek and tangled through her hair. Her wrists were bound above her head, and every few seconds, the chain gave a small clink when she shifted against the post.Mira walked beside me as several Hollow Fang warriors followed close behind, their boots grinding over the damp ground. None of them spoke, but their presence made the courtyard feel smaller.Then Bethany saw me.Her whole body jerked.She quickly pulled herself upright, as though she’d suddenly remembered who she used to be. The fear on her face disappeared beneath a hard expression, but it didn’t stay there properly. Her lips kept trembling, and she swallowed twice before forcing her chin up.“Ava,” she said, but her voice came out thin.She cleared her throat and tried again. “So you finally came.”I

POV: AVATwo weeks had passed since Bethany was sent back to Silvercrest, and somehow, nobody had come for us. No attack, no demand, not even some dramatic threat from Gareth, which should have made me feel safer, but instead it left me wondering what they were planning.That afternoon, I stood over the war map inside Hollow Fang’s intelligence tent, tracing the borders with one finger. Something about the eastern side kept bothering me because Silvercrest patrols had been showing up there again and again, always close to the same stretch of land.I tapped the marked section. “Why do they keep coming here?” I asked Mira. “If they know this is one of our weaker borders, why aren’t we protecting it better?”Mira leaned over the table and followed where I was pointing before answering. “Because that’s the border between Hollow Fang and Silvercrest. Their soldiers are allowed to patrol their side, and we can’t exactly cross over and start chasing them away.”“So we just let them stand the

POV: AVAThe first thing I noticed was that Darius took me to his bedroom instead of the medical tent. I adjusted the pillows, trying to understand why he did that.“What are you doing?” I asked. “Why did you bring me here instead of taking me to the healers?”“That's because I'm treating you myself.”Has he been treating other soldiers like this too? Or was he just giving me preferential treatment, because this is the second time he has done this?He came back with a small medical kit and pulled a chair beside him. I was about to ask a question when he began to remove the damaged pieces of my clothes. He was careful not to touch the fabric against the wound.“You know there are people trained to do this, right?”“I know.”He dipped a cloth into a bowl and began to clean the blood from my arm. He was too careful for someone who could be so rough whenever his temper got the better of him.I watched him prepare to stitch me up. “Where did you learn how to do that?”“My dad taught me som

AVATwo weeks after Kael’s arrival, I woke up feeling sick.The nausea wasn’t severe enough to frighten me, but it was persistent, sitting unpleasantly in my throat whenever I moved. My limbs felt heavy too, and I had to sit on the edge of the bed for a few seconds before standing because my body didn’t seem interested in cooperating.I blamed the battle and everything that had happened since then. Recovering from my wound, dealing with Kael’s sudden appearance, and watching Darius prepare Hollow Fang for another attack had left little room for rest. I had been running on exhaustion for days, so feeling weak hardly seemed unusual.There was another reason I kept the sickness to myself. I knew exactly how Darius would react if I told him. After what happened during the battle, he was already protective enough. If I told him I was waking up nauseous and weak, he would probably drag a doctor into my room, order me to stay in bed, and find some reason to forbid me from doing anything witho