Beg Me, Alpha: The Plus-Sized Queen's Return のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 81 - チャプター 89

CarolineI had spent most of that morning sitting beside my sister's bed, pressing a cold cloth against Cecil's forehead while she slept off the sedatives Mark had given her.Cecil had screamed herself hoarse the night before, and when she finally collapsed in my arms, I held her like I used to when we were children and thunder shook the nursery windows. We had both lost Diane, but Cecil had always loved her with a ferocity that left no room for anything else.When the alarms began to wail, I felt them in my bones before I heard them with my ears.I sprang from the chair, pressed a kiss against Cecil's damp hair, and checked that the bedroom door was locked before sprinting down the corridor toward the sound.Warriors poured through the halls with weapons drawn, shouting orders that overlapped into a confused roar, and I caught Andrew by the sleeve as he rushed past."What is happening, and why are the border alarms ringing

ElecAndrew found the observer's nest at dawn, a hollow among the rafters of the abandoned barn where someone had lain for hours with a pair of binoculars and a thermos of tea.The tea was still faintly warm when he held his palm against the metal, and the binoculars had been left carefully on a folded handkerchief, as though the owner wanted us to know that leaving had been a choice. There were no fingerprints, no footprints in the mud, and no scent beyond a faint ghost of jasmine that dissolved the moment I breathed it in."Whoever watched Caelan from this roof was not afraid of being caught, and I think they wanted us to find these," Andrew said grimly, holding up the binoculars."Then they want us frightened, and we will not give them that gift," I answered, though my hand shook as I took the lenses from him.I walked back to the main house through the grey morning with the memory of Caelan's small silhouette burned across my eyes. The fountain water had fallen back into its basin

MarthaI did not sleep that night, and I did not intend to, because a woman who has survived thirty years of conspiracy learns to feel the shape of danger through the soles of her feet.Zara had locked herself in her tower with a bottle of wine and a fury that made the servants whisper, and David had retired early with a smile that I did not believe for a moment. I wandered the dark corridors of Sebastian’s house in my dressing gown, listening to the groan of old timbers and counting the minutes until the household settled into silence.Past midnight, I passed the kitchen and noticed a thin line of light beneath the pantry door, and something about its steadiness made me stop.I pressed my ear against the wood and heard the soft, frantic tapping of a woman typing with both thumbs.I opened the door slowly, and Stephanie turned toward me with a phone clutched against her chest and a face as white as flour. She had been crouched among the sacks of grain with her knees drawn up, and the s

LucyThe cook at the big house had taught me how to bake oatmeal cookies, and I had made thirty of them that morning with raisins pressed into the tops like tiny dark eyes.I wrapped twelve in a napkin tied with a ribbon, because my mother had always said that a gift carried in both hands feels warmer than a gift carried in one, and I walked down the stone steps toward the cellar with my heart thumping against my ribs.Neralda had given me permission to visit the vault only after I promised to stay on the near side of the steel bars, and only after Valentine agreed to wait outside the door with his arms folded and his jaw tight. She had knelt in front of me while she explained the rule, and her eyes had looked tired and old in a way that made me want to hug her."She is a dangerous woman, Lucy, and I do not want her to say anything that hurts you, so you must walk away the moment she begins to be cruel," Neralda had told me.I had nodded solemnly,