บททั้งหมดของ Forbidden Under the Blood Moon: บทที่ 131 - บทที่ 140

Point of view: KadeFire does not fight fair, and neither did the men Halric had hidden in the dark, waiting in alcoves carved so seamlessly into the rock that I hadn't even sensed them until they moved.The first one came at me low, and I met him with everything my father had ever taught me about surviving an ambush, which was mostly this. Do not think. Move. Let your body remember faster than your fear can catch up to it.Steel rang against steel somewhere to my left, Ronan's voice cutting through the noise in short, sharp commands that Selene answered without needing to look, the two of them moving like they'd trained for exactly this moment their entire lives. Draven fought closer to the wall, torch abandoned on the stone floor, using his bare hands against a man twice his size with a desperation that told me he had something to prove tonight, maybe to us, maybe to himself, maybe to some version of himself he hadn't liked very much a few weeks ago.And Wren.Wren was not where I'd

Point of view: WrenMagnus's hands trembled reading my mother's handwriting, and I hadn't expected that from a man built out of rules and grief, a man who had spent decades hardening himself against exactly this kind of feeling.We sat in the tent he'd claimed as a makeshift war room, the letter spread carefully across the table between us, its edges soft from years of folding and unfolding, the ink faded but still legible in my mother's careful, looping hand. Kade stood near the entrance, arms crossed, watching his father's face for whatever reaction might come, tension visible in the set of his shoulders."She wrote this the year before she died," I said. "Briar found it hidden in a trunk my father never opened, tucked beneath old blankets like she wanted it forgotten and remembered at the same time."Magnus read in silence for a long moment before speaking, his eyes moving slowly across each line like he was memorizing it. "She knew," he said finally. "She knew exactly what Halric

Point of view: WrenSelene woke me before sunrise, and I hated her for it for exactly the first ten seconds, the cold air hitting my face before my eyes had even fully opened."Up," she said, already dressed, already holding two wooden practice blades, her breath fogging faintly in the pale early light. "If whatever woke up in you inside that cave is going to matter in nine days, we don't have time to waste on sleep.""It's barely light out.""The best lessons never wait for good timing," she said, tossing me a blade I barely caught, my reflexes still sluggish with sleep. "Move."We trained in a clearing away from camp, far enough that the sound of wood cracking against wood wouldn't wake anyone still trying to recover from the night before. Selene moved like something carved rather than born, every motion economical, purposeful, decades of discipline folded into each strike, and I spent the first hour simply trying not to embarrass myself in front of her."You're thinking too much,"

Point of view: WrenSomeone in our own camp had betrayed us, and I spent the entire morning studying faces I'd trusted for weeks, searching for cracks I desperately hoped weren't there, hating myself a little more with every glance I couldn't help throwing.Kade told me quietly, away from the others, exactly what Ronan had noticed the night before. Halric had known our timing, our route, details that only a handful of people had access to. I hated how quickly my mind started listing names, sorting people I cared about into columns of trust and doubt."Not Ivy," I said immediately. "Not Cody, obviously.""I'm not suspecting your family," Kade said gently, taking my hand. "I'm asking you to help me watch, that's all.""That's exactly what suspecting feels like," I said, though I understood why it had to happen, why we couldn't afford the comfort of assuming safety anymore.We found Draven near the training clearing, practicing alone again, his form noticeably improved from just a few da

Point of view: WrenMagnus came back from Voss's tent an hour later with a face that told me the answer before he ever spoke a single word, his shoulders bowed in a way I hadn't seen since the night we first learned my true name."Well?" Kade asked, rising immediately, crossing the fire in two quick strides."Voss claims ignorance," Magnus said, sitting heavily near the fire, older and wearier than I'd ever seen him look, rubbing a hand slowly across his face. "He swears the warrior acted alone, driven by some private debt to Halric that Voss knew nothing about.""Do you believe him?" I asked, watching his eyes carefully for any flicker of doubt.Magnus was quiet for a long moment before answering, staring into the flames like they might offer him a better answer than his own instincts had. "I want to," he said finally. "We've been allies for fifteen years. But I've been wrong about people I trusted for far longer than fifteen years before tonight, so my instincts don't feel especiall