บททั้งหมดของ Second Chance for the Discarded Luna : บทที่ 101 - บทที่ 108

"Marcus and Verity already departed," my father said, something careful entering his voice as he turned from the guard back toward me. "Within the hour after the treaty's signing, if I recall Kellan's earlier report correctly. Urgent word reached them from Finn, something about unrest along Blackthorn's northern border that required the Alpha's immediate attention."Relief, complicated and quiet, settled through me at that. Whatever this visitor at the gate actually wanted, at least Marcus remained entirely unaware of what had happened in this chamber tonight, exactly as I'd fought so carefully these past months to keep it."Doran," my father said, turning his attention fully toward the matter at hand. "Go yourself. I want to know precisely who's asking for my daughter before anyone grants entry this close to the birth."Doran left immediately, and the chamber settled into tense, watchful quiet, Wren's protective light still humming faint around the walls, Rhys's hand never leaving mi

"A trade clerk," Nessa reported, finding me at the harbor office the following morning, something relieved in her voice despite the careful watch she'd clearly kept overnight regardless. "Sent to negotiate wool tariffs on behalf of Blackthorn's southern merchant guild. Entirely ordinary business, Elena. I checked his credentials twice myself before I let him past the registry desk."Relief eased the tight knot that had settled in my chest since the ship's colors first caught my attention. "Not Marcus," I said, mostly to myself."Not Marcus," Nessa confirmed. "Though I confess I understand why you braced for it regardless. Six months is a long time to keep holding your breath every time a ship flies the wrong colors.""I don't know how to stop," I admitted. "Even now, even with the harbor as secure as Doran's left it, some part of me still expects every unfamiliar face to be trouble.""That's not unreasonable," Nessa said gently, "given everything the past year has actually taught you

I broke the seal with unsteady hands, Rhys reading over my shoulder as I unfolded the dense, carefully written pages.Elena,I hope this finds you and the children well. I'm writing with news I've weighed carefully before committing to parchment, uncertain how best to deliver it even now that I've decided it must be delivered.Ashra has gone silent. Completely. No letters, no sightings, no further attempts against any front we've been watching these past months. Doran's scouts report nothing along either border. Our contacts within the merchant houses she once used report no further contact whatsoever. It has been nearly four months now since her last confirmed activity of any kind.I do not trust this silence, Elena. I want to be direct about that. Four months is not retreat. Four months, for a woman who has proven herself capable of years of patience, is barely a pause. I write not to offer false comfort, but because I believe you deserve to know the shape of what we're currently fa

Time seemed to slow entirely, the market's ordinary noise fading into something distant and unimportant, as I watched Marcus's gaze move from Kai's small, upturned face back to mine, then down again, lingering this time, studying the particular shape of his jaw, the set of his dark eyes, features I'd watched emerge gradually over these past months without ever letting myself fully name what they actually meant."Elena." Marcus's voice came out strange, careful, something uncertain and dawning threading beneath the simple greeting. "I didn't realize you'd be in the market this morning.""Quick errand," I managed, my own voice sounding distant and unnatural to my own ears, every instinct screaming to simply turn and walk away before the moment could stretch any further.Kai, entirely unaware of the significance unfolding around him, tugged impatiently at my hand, pointing with determined, furious enthusiasm toward a stall selling bright, ripe plums. "Want," he announced, the single word