All Chapters of Rejected and Banished: Claimed by the Lycan King: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

LYRAThe smoke never really left my lungs anymore. It was always there a reminder of what I had been through.When I was standing on the battlefield, when I was behind walls that were falling apart, even when I closed my eyes at night the smoke stayed with me. It was like a ghost inside my chest a reminder that this war had found me just like storms find the coastline.I walked through a corridor in what used to be a school. Now it was a place where our commanders made plans. Maps were everywhere. It was very quiet. I touched the stone walls as I walked feeling the cracks with my fingers. It was something I did without thinking like I was trying to see what would happen next.The sky was loud above us. It was not the weather. I did not jump. I was used to it by now."Tell me what is happening " I said. My voice was steady even though my body wanted to show that I was scared.A young scout came forward. She had dust on her eyelashes. She was very young, not more than nineteen years old

ARESWar changes people. It makes them tougher. That is the thing I learned when I became a ruler. War takes away the parts of people. It takes away the lies people tell themselves so they can sleep better at night.Some people become cowards when things get tough. Some people become mean.. Some people become the person they were meant to be. Lyra stood in the middle of the war room with a silver fog around her boots. It looked like the fog was moving on its own. I realized I was watching something important happen. I thought to myself anyone who tries to stand against her will be in big trouble.The commanders around the table were talking in low voices. They were looking at a map, talking about what was happening in the war. Some scouts were going back and forth, bringing news from the front lines.I heard that the enemy's supply lines were falling apart. Some villages were giving up without a fight.. Our enemy, Kael was pulling his troops back to the capital. Everything was going

LYRA War has a sound. It's not the noises. Not swords hitting shields or people screaming as they die. The real sound of war is quieter. It's in the thunder of marching armies. In the crackling of fires burning villages before dawn. In the silence when everyone in the room already knows the news is bad. That's the sound around me now. It's heavy. Endless. Alive. I stand on the walls with cold wind blowing through my silver cloak. The mist below the cliffs looks like an ocean waiting to drown the world. Three weeks. It has been three weeks since the war started. The kingdom is bleeding. Stormclaw flags are burning across half the lands. Lycan soldiers move through mountain passes day and night. Refugees flood every protected route we open. Children cry in the fortress halls now. Wounded soldiers sleep against the chapel walls because the healer's wings are full. War makes even victory ugly. A horn blows below. Three short blasts. Scouts are back. I don't move a

ARES The war was ending. I should have felt like we had won. But it didn’t feel like we had won. I felt uneasy. For months I had thought about nothing but staying alive. I had looked at maps made plans and read reports about how many people were hurt. I had to think about how to get food to our people and how to stop the guys from attacking us. I had to make decisions about who would fight and where they would fight. Every day people died. Every night we had to give up something. Then all of a sudden the fighting started to stop. The first few days felt weird. We got reports that said fewer people were getting hurt. Some areas just gave up without a fight. The bad guys left their strongholds before we even got there. Our soldiers stopped moving. The other side stopped pushing forward. The battlefield was quiet. It was quiet for the time in months. That made me nervous. I was more nervous than I had been during the war. I stood on the balcony of our fortress looki

SERENAKael did not see it coming.That is the thing about it.For all his strength and all his pride and all the years he spent sitting on a throne he still thought threats came with claws out.He thought enemies would come charging through the gates.He thought there would be armies and blood.He never learned the lesson that I learned a long time ago.The worst wars start with a smile.I was standing on the balcony looking out over the capital of Stormclaw as the sun came up and painted the city gold.It was beautiful. It was also broken and it was mine or at least it would be soon.I was not officially in charge yet. That would change.A slow smile spread across my face as I thought about the poison that was working its way through Kaels system.It would have been impossible to get to him a week ago when he still trusted his instincts and had people around him who questioned things.The war had taken all of that away from him.His advisors were dead or scared. His commanders were