All Chapters of FOR REVENGE, I MARRIED THE CRIPPLED LYCAN KING : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Selena's POV"Highly needed," I said, my gaze fixed on Lucien. "I believe someone needs a breather before they burst red with shame." I held his eye for a beat longer than necessary, then turned and walked out of the chamber with Kael beside me."Luna, that was insane," Dave said the moment we cleared the doors, his face split with a wide grin."I just refused to be a backdrop anymore," I said. "Plus I made a promise." My voice dropped slightly as I turned to Kael."That was incredible," he said. "You were more than amazing."I nodded with a small smile, smoothing the creases on my dress when Lucien's voice came hard from behind us."You see what this stray—"Kael's cane connected with his leg before the sentence finished.Lucien pulled up short, wincing, fury and shock fighting for space on his face."You're rattled," Kael said simply."I'm not—""You're flushed, Lucien. Your face has been red since she asked how you knew about the recommendation before it was read." Kael kept his vo

Selena's POV"My lady," Nia called, holding a bag in her hands as she walked in."What's the matter, what's in the bag?" I asked, sitting up from the bed I had been lying on."Alpha Kael requests your audience in an hour," she said, setting the bag carefully on the dresser and beginning to open it. "He sent this."Inside was a dress. Deep burgundy, simple cut, nothing ceremonial about it. The kind of thing you wore when the occasion was personal rather than political."Did he say why?" I asked."Dinner," Nia said. "Just dinner. His study."I looked at the dress.In the ten days since the council session, we had fallen into a rhythm that was functional and productive and almost comfortable — morning briefings with Dave, council appearances twice a week, evenings reviewing the reports that came in from the border territories. We worked well together. We worked in a way that felt natural, which was stranger than the working itself.But we had not had dinner. Not like this."Help me get r

Kael's POV"Dave was in my office at seven."You look terrible," he said, setting two cups of coffee on the desk and dropping into the chair across from me."The visitor records," I said, ignoring that. "Tell me you started last night.""I started last night," he said. "I also slept for three hours so whatever I look like, you look worse." He pulled a folder from under his arm and opened it on the desk between us. "Three years of palace visitor logs. Everyone who came through the main gate, the staff entrance, the supplier entrance, and the east wing private access. Cross-referenced against the clinic head's preliminary notes on who would have had the knowledge to prepare that compound.""How many names?" I asked."On the full list, forty-seven," Dave said. "People who visited this palace in the six months before the attack three years ago with enough access and enough time inside the walls to store something." He turned a page. "Cross-referenced against the clinic's notes on preparat

Selena's POV"My lady." Nia's voice came sharp through the dark. "Wake up."I was already sitting up before my eyes were fully open. Something in her tone cut through sleep completely."What happened?" I asked."The tray woman," Nia said, stepping into the room with the candle throwing light up her face. "One of the kitchen staff found her near the food preparation station twenty minutes ago. The one where your morning tray is assembled." She paused. "She was not supposed to be there. Her shift does not start for another three hours."I was out of bed before Nia finished the sentence."Where is she now?" I asked, reaching for my robe."Dave's men have her in the east corridor," Nia said. "They are waiting for instruction."I crossed to the connecting door and knocked twice. Hard.The door opened faster than it should have if Kael had been sleeping."The tray woman," I said. "She was found near my food preparation station in the middle of the night. Dave's men have her."His jaw tighte

Selena's POV"Doctor," I said. "Give us the room." I’d like to talk to my husband alone.The doctor looked at Kael who nodded and then he left."Nia," I said."My lady—""Outside," I said. "I will call you." She dipped her lead downwards before walking out of the room and I turned to Kael, shifting closer as I spoke."Ask me," I said to Kael."Ask you what?" he said."Whatever you have been sitting on since Lucien walked out of here," I said. "You have been holding something for the last hour and I am not stupid enough to pretend I cannot see it."He was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "When you passed out and Nia picked you up, I could not get to you. I sat in that study and watched her carry you out and I could not do a single thing about it." He held my gaze. "I have not felt that useless since the first morning I woke up in this chair.""That is not what you wanted to ask me," I said."No," he said. "It is not.""Then ask it.""The doctor says you are healing faster than any pat