All Chapters of Rejected as the Fat Mate: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Tahlia's POV"An ancient treaty. Say that again."The hunter shifted against his restraints, sweat beading at his temple despite the cool air of the underground chamber. "I don't have the full document. I've only heard fragments, the same way I hear fragments of most things I'm not paid to understand fully. But the man who briefed me mentioned it more than once, like it mattered more than the coin itself.""Fragments are more than nothing," Cassian said, leaning closer. "Give us what you have.""Something about a bloodline clause. An old agreement between the founding houses — Northridge, Ashgrove, and the line that became your royal family, Alpha Prince. A treaty that predates the civil war, predates the purge, predates most of what's written in your official histories at all." The hunter's eyes flicked toward me. "The man who briefed me said no claim to the united throne can be legally recognized without blood from all three founding lines present and willing. Not symbolic. Not poli

Tahlia's POV"You want to arrange a meeting with a man leading an armed rebellion against this throne."Ronan's voice carried a disbelief he rarely aimed at me anymore, the portrait of Corin Northridge still lying on the war table between us, his sharp painted eyes watching the whole conversation like he'd somehow anticipated exactly this argument."I want to understand my own brother before I let him remain a stranger holding a sword to this kingdom's throat," I said. "Those aren't the same thing, and you know it.""I know that the last time we invited a member of your bloodline into a private conversation, he threatened to have his warriors take you by force when you refused him." Ronan crossed his arms. "Forgive me for not extending the same reckless trust to the next relative who emerges from the shadows.""I'm not asking you to trust him. I'm asking you to trust me." I held his gaze, steady despite the ache still lodged somewhere beneath my ribs since the portrait's arrival. "I'v

Ronan's POV"You knew about the Northridge treaty. You knew before any of this started."My father looked up from the chair he'd occupied for most of his slow recovery, still weaker than the man I remembered from before the poisoning, but his eyes sharpened instantly at the accusation in my voice."Close the door, Ronan."I did, though I remained standing rather than taking the seat he gestured toward, needing the distance more than the comfort."The old advisor confirmed it," I said. "You brokered the arrangement with Kael Draven decades ago. You helped orchestrate the Northridge purge."Something flickered across my father's face — not denial, which surprised me more than any confession could have. "I helped end a threat to this throne's stability. Whether you agree with the method, the outcome secured decades of peace this kingdom desperately needed.""Peace built on a lie. An entire bloodline slaughtered, scattered, hidden away in fear, while you let the world believe it was simpl

Tahlia's POV"Say that again. Slowly, because I need to be certain I understood you correctly."Ronan stood in the doorway of my study, his expression carrying the same shaken weight I'd learned to recognize whenever he was delivering news he wished he didn't have to. "My mother and your father. They were engaged, before either of us existed. Before the purge, before your father's betrayal, before any of this began."I set down the ledger I'd been reviewing, my hands suddenly unsteady. "That's not possible.""My father confirmed it himself, this afternoon. Rumors he'd heard for decades, never fully investigated, connecting my mother's origins to circles close to the Northridge bloodline. An engagement to Kael Draven, severed under circumstances nobody in his council would fully explain even when he demanded answers directly."I stood, pacing the length of my study, trying to process implications too large to absorb standing still. "Our families have been connected for decades. Long be

Ronan's POV"There's a page missing."Cassian's finger traced the binding of the prophecy ledger, and I leaned closer, following the same discrepancy he'd already caught — a ragged edge near the spine, too clean to be simple age, too deliberate to be accident."Someone cut it out," I said."Recently, by the look of the cut, though I can't say exactly how recent." Cassian turned the ledger toward the lamplight, examining the torn edge more carefully. "Whoever removed it wanted the rest of the prophecy preserved. Only this specific page mattered enough to eliminate."Tahlia stood beside me, her expression tight with the same frustration building in my own chest. "The passage before it described us specifically. Whatever came next must have mattered enough that someone decided we shouldn't be allowed to read it.""Or someone decided the throne shouldn't be allowed to base decisions on it," Cassian said. "Prophecy records this specific carry political weight, Ronan. If the missing page co