Chapter Twenty Four – Guarded by the Crown
Elara’s POV
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The council chamber had gone still after the scout’s report, but silence never lasted long in Valemont.
Cassia broke first, as she always did, pacing like wildfire in too-small space. “So, what, we’re supposed to just wave at Northern Crescent guards camped on our border? Pretend this isn’t an insult to every wolf in Valemont?”
Caius leaned back in his chair, tapping his ring against the table in an impatient rhythm. “Better than waving would be punching.” His mouth curved into a feral grin. “I volunteer.”
Alpha Darius’s voice cut through the sparks like iron. “This is not jest.”
“Who’s jesting?” Caius lifted both hands, mock-innocent. “I’m perfectly serious. They sit outside our border breathing our air. That’s trespass-adjacent. I say we return the courtesy-with steel.”
Cassia snorted. “Or claws.”
“Or both,” Caius added, deadpan, eyes gleaming.
I pressed my palms to the polished table, steadying my voice. “If you attack them, you hand Thorne the excuse he wants. He’ll call it defiance. He’ll use it to storm our borders and take-” My voice broke, my eyes falling to Aeron.
My son sat cross-legged at the far end of the chamber, oblivious to the tension choking the air. His curls bobbed as he leaned over parchment, tongue
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poking out of his mouth in pure concentration.
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Cassia leaned down, peering over his shoulder. “What are you drawing, pup?”
“A towa!” Aeron announced proudly, holding up the page. A crooked rectangle of bright red crayon sprawled across it. “So Daddy King find us! He look and say, ‘oh, there’s my Aeron towa!””
The entire table groaned.
Caius dropped his head into his hands. “The boy’s building his own beacon.”
Cassia wheezed with laughter, pointing at the crayon mess. “More like a red flag. Literally. Might as well write ‘come invade here’ across it.”
Aeron gasped, scandalized. “Nooo! No flag!” He hugged the page to his chest. “It’s a castle! For Mommy. For me. For Daddy King.”
The laughter faltered. Cassia’s throat bobbed as she glanced at me. Even Caius’s grin softened for half a heartbeat before he masked it again with. bravado.
But then he leaned forward, smirking. “Well, at least when Thorne storms our walls, we can hand him a toddler map. Efficient.”
“Fissh-ent,” Aeron repeated, beaming though he clearly had no idea what it
meant.
Luna Lyanna pressed her fingers to her temple, muttering, “Goddess save us.”
Alpha Darius finally cracked the tension like a whip. “Enough. No one moves against Northern Crescent. Not a word, not a step-unless it is mine to command. Do you understand?”
Cassia huffed. “You’ll say yes, but he’s already planning something.” She
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Chapter Twenty Four Guarded by the Crown
jabbed a thumb toward her twin.
Caius spread his hands with mock-innocence. “What? Me? Never.”
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Later, at the Valemont border…
The mist hung low, swallowing the pines. Northern Crescent’s campfires burned in the dark like sullen stars.
Cassia and Caius rode forward together, flanked by Valemont guards, their wolves prowling just under their skin.
The Crescent warriors didn’t rise, didn’t flinch. They just watched, too still, too disciplined.
The lead warrior finally stepped out, broad and scarred. His voice carried steady authority. “Our orders are clear. We remain here until the Alpha King’s deadline. To guard the border.”
“To guard,” Caius echoed, his smile sharp as a blade. “You mean spy.”
Cassia leaned from her saddle, eyes narrowed. “Or stalk a woman and her pup like fugitives.”
The guard didn’t blink. “The Alpha King fears his mate will flee. It is his right to command.”
“His right ends at Valemont’s borders,” Caius snapped, his wolf flashing hot through his voice. “Tell him that when you scurry back to your campfire.”
The guard didn’t move. “We do not cross. We obey.”
Cassia’s smile sharpened, thin and dangerous. “Good. Because if you do, the
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Chapter Twenty Four – Guarded by the Crown
only thing you’ll be guarding is your own graves.”
Behind them, Valemont wolves growled, the sound rolling like distant thunder.
Back in the council chamber…
Elara’s POV
When Caius and Cassia reported back, Aeron’s head popped up from where he was now stacking blocks. “So Daddy King sent puppy-soldiers?” he chirped.
The room stilled.
Caius choked, coughing into his fist. Cassia slapped the table, wheezing with laughter. “Puppy-soldiers!”
Aeron nodded seriously, as if declaring royal law. “Uh-huh. They wait outside. But they can’t come in. ‘Cause Mommy says no.”
The council-hardened wolves all-shifted uneasily, because no decree of the King weighed heavier in that moment than a child’s simple truth.
And I, goddess help me, felt my throat tighten.
Because Aeron believed me stronger than an Alpha King.
米米米
Thorne’s POV
The council chamber stank of ink and tension when the call came through.
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One of my scouts, face grainy on the small comm-screen, bowed his head. Behind him, I could hear the crackle of Valemont’s border fires.
“They sent the twins,” he reported. “Caius and Cassia.”
My wolf stirred immediately, bristling at the names.
The scout hesitated before repeating their words. “They called our presence trespass. Said if we crossed, we’d be digging our own graves.”
A muscle ticked in my jaw. Heat rose beneath my skin, my wolf pressing harder against its cage.
Julian leaned one elbow on the polished table, his expression wry. “Grave threats from a pair of flame-tongued twins. You should be flattered they sent family.”
I ignored him, my eyes still locked on the scout. “What else?”
The man swallowed. “The girl said stalking a woman and child made us no better than hunters. The boy-” He cleared his throat. “-the boy called us spies.”
A rumble rolled low in my chest. Insolence. From pups who thought blood ties gave them teeth sharp enough to bare at me.
The scout rushed on, voice tightening. “But we did not cross, my King. We held to your order. We hold still.”
Julian’s mouth quirked. “And Valemont holds, too. So what now, Thorne? Do we keep sending letters back and forth while your bond eats you alive?”
The growl broke free, shaking the chamber. My wolf surged forward, gold flooding my vision until every elder present flinched back from the weight of it.
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“I’ll go myself.”
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The words hit like a thunderclap. The scout froze on the screen. My council stiffened, unease spreading like wildfire.
One of the elders dared to speak, his voice shaking. “Sire… to move personally, to camp outside their border-”
“-is not a risk,” I cut him off, my voice iron. “It is inevitability. My mate runs from me. My pup is raised without me. And Valemont thinks ink and protocol can keep them mine?” My fist slammed into the table, the wood groaning under the force. “The Goddess bound us. They dare not unmake what She has decreed.”
My wolf roared through me, half-mad from the distance, bond-ache burning raw across my chest. The chamber itself seemed to pulse with my dominance, heavy enough that the elders struggled to draw breath.
Julian, ever unflinching, only leaned back with a sharp smile. “Then the Kingdom will know their King doesn’t send threats. He delivers them.”
I pushed to my feet, the decision already clawing through me. “Ready the guard. We ride within the hour. Half of Northern Crescent will remain behind to secure the capital. The rest will come with me.”
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Another elder stammered, “Sire-if you move your banners to Valemont soil
“We camp outside their border. Nothing more. Not yet.” My gaze burned, feral, unshakable. “They have until the next moon to yield. But hear me now: if they force my hand, I will break through their gates and take back what is mine.”
Silence choked the chamber. My vow lingered heavy in the air, undeniable.
Julian rose at last, his cloak falling around him like shadow. “Then Valemont has two days.”
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Two days until my boots pressed their soil. Two days until my wolf breathed the same air as my mate and my son.
Two days until no council, no Alpha, no wall in this Kingdom could stand between us.
Elara’s POV
For the first time in days, the council chamber wasn’t filled with shouting, growling, or the slap of fists against tables. Instead, my world was narrowed down to the soft scratch of a pen, the crinkle of paper, and the faint sound of Aeron humming under his breath.
“Mommy, I draw castle again.”
I glanced up from my notes just in time to see Aeron’s newest masterpiece—a blob of red crayon stacked on top of a lopsided square. He beamed, shoving it over my draft pages with sticky fingers.
Cassia groaned dramatically from across the table. “Pup, that is not a castle. That’s… that’s a potato.”
“It’s a castle potato,” Aeron said matter-of-factly, puffing his cheeks. “Mommy’s castle potato. For Daddy King too.”
Caius dropped his head onto the table with a thud. “The boy’s officially building an army of starch-based fortresses.”
I stifled a laugh and gently rescued my manuscript before Aeron could add any more “potatoes” to my editor’s margins. “Marianne asked me for revisions, remember? If I don’t get these pages done, Author Ela Vale might lose her publisher.”
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Cassia propped her chin on her fist, smirking. “And we can’t have the Territories robbed of their great romance novelist.”
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Caius snorted. “Romance? Please tell me there’s at least one epic sword fight
in there. If not, I’ll demand a rewrite myself.”
“There are… metaphorical swords,” I said carefully.
Cassia nearly fell out of her chair laughing. “Oh, Goddess-don’t tell him that. He’ll insist on acting it out.”
Right on cue, Caius grabbed Aeron’s toy dragon and stabbed at the air with it. “Behold, my metaphorical blade!”
Aeron squealed in delight, clapping. “Unca Caius fight dragon! Roar!”
The sound of his giggles filled the chamber, light and untroubled, so sweet it
ached.
I bent my head back over my notes, the ink blurring for a moment as my eyes burned. This was what I wanted for him-for us. Laughter. Peace. A world small enough that castles could be potatoes and dragons fit in the palm of his hand.
“Mommy,” Aeron said suddenly, crawling into my lap with the stealth of a wolf pup. He plopped his head on my shoulder, warm and heavy. “You write fast, then nap. Okay?”
His tiny command nearly broke me. I pressed a kiss into his curls, whispering, “Okay, love. I promise.”
Cassia leaned back with a grin. “Look at that. The pup already gives better
orders than half of this council.”
Caius smirked. “Than half this Kingdom.”
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Guarded by the Crown
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I laughed softly, but my heart stuttered-because I knew they were right.
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Chapter Twenty Five The King at the Gate
Elara’s POV
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Chapter Twenty Five – The King at the Gate
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The morning felt wrong before it had the decency to begin.
Clouds pressed low over Valemont, heavy as wet wool. The pines along the ridge held their breath, and even the pack dogs-usually an orchestra of snuffles and happy barks at first light-lay with their chins on their paws, watching doors instead of wagging at them. Somewhere, a flag rope clicked against its pole in a thin, uneven rhythm, like a nervous heartbeat.
Inside, the council wing hummed without a single voice raised. Guards moved with crisp economy. Apprentices trotted past with bandage rolls and kettles though no one had called for them. The scent of oil and oiled leather and iron ran beneath everything, a river of readiness.
I tried to pretend none of it had anything to do with me.
Marianne’s notes glared from the screen of my laptop where I’d spread out at the far end of the long table. Tighten the middle. Let the heroine choose the surface risk so the hidden cost can hit harder. Add a line that proves she knows what she’s doing-and chooses it anyway.
“Ha,” I muttered at the comment bubble, like I could argue with pixels. My pen hovered. My wolf paced.
Aeron was under the table with the single-minded purpose of a
nearly-three-year-old. Crayons. Paper. Serious grunts of artistic effort. I’d started the morning thinking if I kept him close and gave him a mission, I could get a few clean pages down before the next crisis pulled my name like a bell.
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