All Chapters of The Lycan King’s Forgotten Wife: Chapter 91 - Chapter 100

ARDEN POV"Because I didn't think," I said, and the honesty of it surprised even me. "That's all it was, Ronan. I saw the knife, and my body moved before my mind did."He stood over me in the white light of the medical bay, his chest heaving and his gold eyes blazing. His shirt was torn at the shoulder, there was a smear of someone else's blood on his jaw, and his hands were clenched at his sides as if he didn't trust them."That isn't enough," he said roughly. "People don't throw themselves in front of blades by accident.""They do when it's the only thing they can do," I said, shifting on the stool. My arm throbbed under the bandage, a hot, steady pulse that matched my heartbeat. "I'm a healer. I've spent most of my life watching people get hurt and trying to stop it. Standing there and doing nothing would have been harder than moving.""You could have let Lucian's guards handle it.""They were across the room.""You could have shouted.""There wasn't time to shout," I said, and I a

RONAN POVHer eyes flicked up, surprised."The council is right to be careful," I went on, each word feeling like a stone I was setting down. "After tonight's attack, nothing should be assumed about anyone's motives. Until the investigation is complete, Dr. Marcellis will be restricted to the medical bay and the lab, with a guard at all times, and her access to my private floors will be reviewed."I didn't look at the back of the room as I said it was because I couldn't."A sensible precaution," Severin said, and the faint approval in his voice made my skin crawl."It is a precaution, nothing more," I said, putting my hand flat on the table. "There is no instability. My judgment is sound, and I'll thank the council not to discuss my private affairs in the halls like servants.""Of course, Your Majesty," Haldane said hastily, and a few of the others nodded, relieved that the fight had gone out of the room.Celeste bowed her head, and I saw the corner of her mouth lift for half a second

ARDEN POVAfter we hung up, I stayed sitting at the lab bench for a long time with my good hand flat on the cold table. The lab hummed quietly, the freezer in the corner clicked on, and somewhere twelve floors above me, people were going about their normal lives, totally unaware of what was happening.I was done leaving the secret registry files alone. For weeks, I had treated it like a locked door, trying the handle and walking away to easier ones just to survive. But the people behind it had built a huge mountain of lies on top of those secret papers, and I was done being polite.I couldn't reach the real court records from where I sat. My only tool was the lab computer using the simple login Elias gave me. It could only see lab files and a tiny bit of the company's internal system, and nothing else.But that tiny piece included the office where the official stamp had been logged, which was enough to start. If a clerk stamped the file, they had a boss, and the boss had a paycheck wi

ARDEN POV"Dr. Marcellis, you can't go up there," the guard said, stepping into the middle of the corridor with both hands raised. "The King's orders are that no one leaves this floor tonight.""Then you'd better tell him I said no," I answered, and I kept walking.My bare feet slapped against the cold marble, and I didn't care. I had woken up gasping an hour ago with the bond burning behind my ribs like a coal, and I'd lay there arguing with myself until the ache grew so loud that I couldn't hear my own thoughts. Then I put on my robe and opened the door, and I hadn't once looked back.The second guard, a broad young man with a nervous face, glanced at his partner and then at me. Something in the way I was standing must have reached him, because his eyes widened and slid away, and he stepped sideways against the wall."Let her pass," he muttered."Brandt, he said""Look at her eyes," Brandt whispered. "Do you want to be the one who stops her?"I didn't wait to hear the answer. I walk

ARDEN POVI must have fallen asleep near dawn, because the next time I opened my eyes, the room was bright and the bed was empty."Gone," I said to the empty room, my voice sounding smaller than I wanted it to.The sheets beside me were still warm. I slid my hand across the dent where his body had been, feeling the heat fade slowly under my fingers. Morning light leaked through the curtains, and I could hear the city waking far below—horns,engines, and the hum of a world that hadn't changed at all.He had stayed longer than last time. I made myself admit it, because it was true. He had stayed until nearly dawn, with his hand on my ribs and my name on his lips. It was more than he had ever given me before.Still, it felt like an escape, and it left a cold space in my chest.I found my robe on the floor next to his torn shirt and dressed without looking at the bed. A glass of water sat on the nightstand. I stared at it for a long time, wondering if he had left it for me or had someone