All Chapters of The Alpha King's Unclaimed Queen: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Killian POVI found Marcus outside the council chamber that afternoon, just as two elders were leaving.“The council would take comfort in knowing where the birth will take place,” he said.“The east infirmary, on the ground floor.”He nodded. “Has Halloway approved it?”“He has.”Marcus thanked me and moved on. I watched him go, searching his face for some sign that the answer meant more to him than he was letting on, but I saw nothing.I found Margit in the household office. She'd run the house since before I could walk, and I knew better than to give her an instruction without a reason.“Have the north guest suite on the second floor aired and stocked by the end of the month,” I told her. “It needs to be ready for the birth.”Her eyebrows rose, but she wrote it in her book without asking questions.The captain of the east watch was near the conservatory. I told him to prepare the annex for the birth arrangements.“What am I guarding against?” he asked.“Everything.”He studied me

Vivienne POVBy half past six, I had watched eight black SUVs pull into the garage behind the east wing. Nobody had told me why they were there, but I knew Killian was preparing for the Royal Summit. I dressed and went downstairs to find out what he hadn't told me.The SUVs stood nose to tail beneath the strip lights, and two guards were checking the undercarriage of the last one.Killian and Owen stood at the far end with a clipboard between them. When Killian saw me, he lowered it.“Good morning,” I said. “May I see that?”He didn't hand it over straight away. I took it from his fingers and read through the manifest. Eight vehicles, departure at dawn on the sixth day. The lead car would carry four guards. Killian and Owen were assigned to the second, while the third would carry two more guards and the Alpha's documents.I read the list again, searching for my name.It wasn't there.“I see,” I said.“I was going to tell you at breakfast.” Killian's voice was quiet. “I wanted to expla

Vivienne POVBy the fifth night, the dress hung on the back of my door like someone waiting for me to leave.Priya had finished the hem on the second day. My bag was packed, my shoes stood beneath the window, and a thermos of tea had gone cold on the nightstand. Everything was ready, leaving me with nothing to do but lie in the dark and think.I'd told Killian about the rumor the day I heard it. I'd kept my word to Priya and to him. I told him there was a name I wasn't giving him, and I made it clear that I wasn't hiding that fact from him either.He'd looked at me for a long moment before saying, "Thank you for telling me you are." That was all.The next morning, Owen checked the agency's contract against the Hall's own records. Everything that could be checked had checked out.After that, Killian wrote to the Court, asking permission to station his own guards in the east galleries. The answer came back in two lines. The security of Summit Hall was the Court's concern alone, and no

Killian POV“Eleven times I've come here, and I've never had to bring this many guards,” I told Vivienne as Summit Hall came into view.She looked through the window at the stone towers above the lake. “And this time?”“This time, I don't trust the people waiting inside.”She turned towards me, but before she could ask anything else, the car began its climb towards the gates.Summit Hall stood on a ridge above a lake the colour of slate, its two stone towers rising above a long grey roof. My father used to say the Hall had been built by people who wanted every visitor to have time to reconsider before reaching its doors. The road wound up the ridge in a series of tight turns, giving anyone who approached plenty of time to think about what waited at the top.This morning, I had too much to think about already.Vivienne sat beside me with her hands resting in her lap. She had barely spoken during the last hour, and I hadn't pressed her. The decision she'd made before we left the estate

Killian POVAlpha Voss did not raise his voice. He had never needed to."I thank the Court for its patience," he said. "And I beg the herald's pardon for speaking before the formalities were done. What I have to say should not wait on ceremony."The herald, to my disgust, stepped back.Voss stood at his table with his hands resting lightly on its edge, a tall, narrow man in a charcoal coat with a long, creased face and slow, unhurried eyes. He spoke in entries, like a ledger. Each sentence was a line item, entered and closed."The petition before you is brief. It asks the Summit to answer two questions. The first is whether a woman living in Alpha Cross's household is who she claims to be. The second is what becomes of the child she carries."Three hundred people were listening. Beside me, Vivienne sat motionless, her hands folded on the table."I'll begin with the first," Voss said. "Some months ago a human woman arrived at Alpha Cross's estate through a clerical error at a fertility