Semua Bab While She Wore My Crown, I Left With His Heir: Bab 1 - Bab 9

The doors to Moon Hall stood ajar. I had returned early from Westvale with my pregnancy report because Caden had promised to spend the final hours of my birthday with me. From the outer gallery, I watched my father lead Lydia toward him.Lydia wore the Luna mantle that had been made for me. My mother adjusted the crystal wolf-head clasp at her throat, while my younger brother, Noah, opened the Luna registry before the altar.Caden had chosen its crystal wolf-head clasp himself. When the mantle arrived, he draped it over my shoulders and promised that the next time I wore it, he would be standing beside me before the pack.Noah drew a line through my name and entered Lydia's beneath it. When my father placed her hand in Caden's, every wolf in the hall rose and hailed her as Luna."Lydia's parents died protecting us from rogues. We owe her our lives," my father told Caden. "She has three months left. I want you to grant her final wish."Caden slid a ring onto Lydia's finger, signed benea

Noah laughed at my answer as though I had made another empty threat. "You are always performing for attention," he said. "You have spent years clinging to Caden and treating Lydia like competition. But do you really think you're good enough to compare yourself to her?"He tossed the family-link token at my feet."I don't care whether you pick it up," he said. "Lydia has been my sister in every way that mattered for years. If cutting the link means I no longer have to watch you compete with her, leave it there."Caden's patience vanished as well. He caught my wrist and ordered me back to the old Hart house before I upset Lydia again. I told him the collapse was connected to the construction he had approved, but he insisted another investigator could handle it and promised he would find me once Lydia's healer cleared her."You and I have the rest of our lives," he said. "Stop turning one difficult night into a reason to doubt me."The damaged barrier shuddered again before I could answe

Caden POVWhen the Moon Council barrier severed the mate-link, Caden's fingers crushed the pregnancy report into a ridge of creases.He called Evelyn three times, but the sealed wall returned every summons. The Council envoy gathered the dissolution papers and told him that Evelyn had completed her mate-contract dissolution, pack withdrawal, and bloodline severance before crossing the northern border. An emergency protection order now barred Blackridge from tracking her or the unborn pup until the final hearing.The examination date matched Lydia's secret Luna ceremony. Evelyn had been standing outside Moon Hall with this report while Caden accused her of checking his movements and warned her not to let her insecurity destroy them.Lydia stepped away from the altar and reached for his arm. "She only wants you to chase her. Once she calms down, she'll bring the pup home." Caden moved beyond her reach, his gaze settling on the ring he had placed on her finger the night before.Measured f

The first evidence I submitted was Caden's authorization to remove Moon Hall's support stones.A Council Security officer projected the hall's structural plan before the tribunal and marked the four missing supports. Blackridge law required three inspections and a guarded backup barrier before any alteration. Caden approved the request eleven minutes after receiving it. His stated reason was to widen the route for the Luna ceremony.Patrol records showed no eastern-border emergency that night. Caden had used his Alpha authority to conceal the ceremony and stationed guards outside to keep me and other uninvited wolves away, leaving no one to inspect the weakened barrier."Did you sign these authorizations?" the judge asked."Yes.""Did the request mention structural risk?""It did," Caden said. "I believed one night would be safe."The judge asked what he had done after the first collapse, when I showed him the construction order. Caden looked toward me before answering."I ordered her

Three months later, I was inspecting Frost River's new northern barrier.Each section now rested on independent moonstone supports, allowing the remaining structure to hold if one failed. After the investigation team completed its final impact test, I signed the approval file and found a death notice from Blackridge waiting on my Council terminal: Caden had died in the pack infirmary the previous night.Once the silver poison reached his heart, his wolf weakened quickly. During his final two days, he could no longer maintain human form. At his request, Blackridge's healers sent no further contact applications to Frost River and notified the Moon Council only after his death.Back in my office, I opened the full file. Caden had left a public confession accepting responsibility for the secret Luna ceremony, the concealed removal of Moon Hall's support stones, and his attempt to stop my investigation, without using Lydia's deception to excuse his choices. He admitted using his Alpha autho