Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 51 - Chapitre 60

Tahlia's POV"The trade prices don't make sense," I said, spreading the final ledgers across the council table. "Not unless someone's been manipulating them on purpose."Cassian leaned over my shoulder, studying the figures I'd circled in red ink. "Explain.""Grain prices in the southern territory dropped nearly forty percent the same season their independent trade routes collapsed. That's not market fluctuation. That's someone flooding their local market with underpriced royal grain, timed to undercut whatever independent trade they had left, until dependency became the only option that made financial sense." I pulled the second ledger forward. "The eastern borderlands show the same pattern with iron ore. Someone drove the price down right after their blight, made royal supply the only viable option, then let it climb back to normal the moment their independent mining operations shut down for good.""That's not incompetence," Cassian said quietly. "That's a coordinated campaign.""I

Tahlia's POV"Close the door."Priya obeyed without hesitation, though her hands trembled as she did it. The moment the latch clicked shut, whatever composure she'd carried into the small study cracked open entirely."I know what the record shows," she said before I could speak, her voice already breaking. "I know exactly how it looks.""Then explain it to me. Now. Plainly. Before I decide what to do with what I already know."She sank into the chair across from me, hands twisting in her lap, and said nothing for a long moment, staring at some point past my shoulder as though gathering the courage to say something that had clearly been eating at her for months."They took my sister," she said finally, barely above a whisper. "Three months ago. A man came to my quarters late one night, showed me proof she was alive but held somewhere I'd never find without his cooperation, and told me exactly what he needed from me in exchange for her safety."My chest tightened. "Who took her?""I don

Tahlia's POVI moved before the shadow could take its final step.I didn't scream. I didn't think. Every instinct I'd built across months of war rooms, battlefields, and near-death moments simply took over, and I launched myself off the bed in a single motion, colliding with the intruder before the blade in their hand could find its mark.The impact sent us both crashing into the small table beside Ronan's bed, wood splintering under the force of it. The intruder's surprised grunt was the first sound loud enough to shatter the silence entirely."Tahlia." Ronan's voice, thick with sleep and confusion, cut through the chaos as he jolted upright."Guards!" I shouted, my hands locked around the intruder's wrist, fighting to keep the blade away from us both. "Someone's here!"The assassin twisted with brutal efficiency, wrenching free of my grip and driving an elbow into my ribs hard enough to steal the breath from my lungs. I staggered but didn't fall. Adrenaline overrode the pain as I lu

Tahlia's POV"Six territories, Ronan. Not two, not three. Six."I spread the intelligence reports across the war table, each one marked with the same careful notation Cassian's contacts had gathered over the past week. Territories along the old Ashgrove borderlands, quietly pledging support to a claim most of the alliance still didn't know existed."That's not a rebellion," Kastor said grimly, studying the map. "That's a coalition.""It's worse than a coalition." I traced the pattern connecting each territory, the same instinct that had once found dependency buried in tribute records now finding something far more alarming. "Look at what they're actually organizing. Not troop movements alone. Trade agreements. Shared currency proposals. A council structure that doesn't mention Silver Ridge at all, as though the Dominion doesn't factor into their plans anymore."Ronan leaned over the reports, jaw tightening. "They're not planning to overthrow my father's throne.""No." I met his eyes.

Tahlia's POV"You're not canceling the Marrow Vale negotiations."Ronan's voice carried more statement than question as he watched me pull the requisition folders back onto my desk. The bounty announcement still sat folded in the drawer where I'd left it three days earlier. I refused to let it dictate my schedule."I'm not canceling anything." I didn't look up from the trade proposal I was reviewing. "The territories deserve continuity. Kael's forces already learned that intimidation doesn't work on me. I don't see why Ashgrove sympathizers would fare any differently.""This isn't the same as before. Kael wanted you as a symbol. These people want you as a hostage, and they're being paid handsomely for the privilege." He crossed the room, frustration in every line of his posture. "I've already doubled your guard. I need you to let them actually do their job, instead of dismissing half your escort every time you decide a meeting doesn't need it.""I'll accept the guard. I won't let fear