All Chapters of Rejected as the Fat Mate: Chapter 181 - Chapter 183

Tahlia's POV"No."The knife pressed harder against my throat. I felt the point sink into my skin, a thin line of heat, but I didn't flinch and I didn't reach for the hidden blade strapped to my forearm. Maren had a right to look at it and not find me reaching."No?" Maren's voice was barely a breath. "I'm not asking permission.""I know. I'm telling you what I'll do." I held her gaze. "I won't fight you. You can take that knife as far as you like, but I will not lift a hand against my sister to protect a throne.""You're lying.""Cut me and find out."Her jaw tightened. The blade trembled against my pulse. In the silence, I heard the kettle's thin whistle, the water lapping beneath the floor, and the slow, uneven rhythm of her breathing."You think I won't?""I think you've been waiting twenty-six years to feel something besides cold." I kept my voice low and steady. "If this is what you need, then do it. But I don't think it is.""You don't know me.""No. But I know what it is to be

Ronan's POV"Nobody touches anything in this kitchen until I say so."The head cook went gray. Behind her, a dozen scullions froze with their hands in dishwater, and the only sound was the fire popping in the great hearth. It was barely dawn. I hadn't slept. My knuckles were wrapped in linen where I'd split them on the paneling, and I had not let go of Tahlia's hand for longer than a few breaths since Ysolde laid that gray liquid in front of us."Majesty," the cook whispered. "Is something wrong?""Where does the Luna's honey come from?""Fenn's, Majesty. The apothecary on Chandler's Lane." She wrung her apron. "He's supplied the palace twenty years. Honey, tinctures, tonics for the household. Always careful, always punctual.""Who orders it?""I do, from the standing requisition. But this honey's special." She turned to a shelf and lifted down a small cloth-covered ledger. "A new blend, for the Luna's table only. It was added to the order two months ago. The crown's request.""The cr