Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 30

I laughed. It surprised both of us, a short, ugly sound with no real humor in it, echoing strangely off scorched stone walls that were still standing only because of last night's fight, the walls I'd nearly lost along with everyone sheltering behind them."They want to bond us," I said. "The same council that watched me dragged out of that hall in chains. The same council that believed a fabricated pouch of herbs over eight months of honest service I gave to your pack without complaint. Now, suddenly, they want a ceremony instead.""I told you I wasn't asking you to reconcile with me," Damon said quickly, his hands raised slightly like the words themselves needed defending. "This isn't that. This is a political demand, and I intend to refuse it outright.""Do you." I watched him carefully, searching his face for the calculation I still half expected to find hiding somewhere behind his eyes. "Because thirty people just died, and your council is going to argue that a formal bond between

The hall exploded into noise the instant Vivienne’s words landed. Guards shoved toward the doors she had slipped through, Elder Cole shouted orders that vanished beneath the panic, and voices crashed together until the chamber sounded less like a council and more like a battlefield.I stood frozen at the center of it.Her sentence kept ringing in my ears louder than the shouting around me.What I actually took from that archive before your fire ever reached me.“Stop her,” Damon barked, already moving.Vivienne was faster than any of the guards expected, but she didn’t run for an exit. She turned back toward me instead, weaving through the confusion with terrifying confidence. When she stopped only a few steps away, I could see the satisfaction written plainly across her face.“You want to know what I found,” she said, low enough that only the people nearest us could hear. Her voice was almost gentle, which somehow made it worse than a scream. “Your bloodline doesn’t stay stable. Moon

Two months went by before Ashwood came back into my life. Two months I spent training harder than I ever had before. When word finally came, it came through Cato instead of a formal letter, and that alone told me something was wrong. Nobody wanted this written down where a stranger might read it. "He's not sleeping," Cato said. He stood in my father's hall looking like he wasn't sure he should be the one telling me this. "Damon. He walks the border road most nights now. His guards started following him quietly. They're worried he'll wander too far and not even realize it." "That's not my concern anymore," I said. The words came out flatter than I meant them to, more defensive than certain. "I'm not telling you to make it your concern," Cato said carefully. "I'm telling you because I think you'd want to know. And because Elder Cole has started making decisions Damon isn't even present enough to catch. That worries me more than the sleeping does." I set down the training report I'd

I stood up fast, putting myself between Damon and the doorway before I had fully decided to do it. Fire flickered brighter along my fingers than I meant to allow, silver at the center and blue at the edges.“That’s not a cure,” I said. “That’s a solution that happens to solve every political problem you’ve been chasing for months, and you know it.”Elder Cole stepped farther into the room, completely unbothered by the flames.“Is it not both? A true bond would close the wound and secure the alliance. Where is the harm in a solution that serves everyone at once?”“The harm is that it still isn’t my choice you’re offering,” I said. " you're trying to force me into what I got torn apart from Once" Damon’s hand found my wrist, weak but insistent. I looked down and found him looking at me with more clarity than he had shown since I entered the room.“Don’t,” he said quietly. “Don’t let him bully you into this. Not for me. I’d rather live with the ache than force you into something you don

The fire surged past where I meant to hold it. For one terrifying second, it stopped listening to me. Silver flames tore across the chamber, spreading farther than I had intended. Heat slammed into the warriors surrounding us, forcing men from both sides to stumble backward. Several raised their arms to shield their faces as the stone beneath my feet flashed white from the sudden burst of power. My stomach dropped. “Sera!” Damon’s voice cut through the roar. He sounded closer than he should have been. “Pull it back!” he shouted. “Whatever’s happening, pull it back now!” I clenched my fingers. The fire twisted around my arms, wild and hungry. I tried to draw it inward, but it resisted. It wanted more. More air. More space. More power. My breathing became uneven. No. *I can't lose control here* I forced myself to remember Mara’s training. Control your breathing. Control your body. Then control the flame. I dragged in a slow breath through my nose and held it. The fire