Lahat ng Kabanata ng RECLAIMING HIS REJECTED MATE : Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

BROOK'S POVI woke up with a slow, confused drag of consciousness, like my mind was surfacing through thick waterMy first breath came out uneven, catching halfway in my throat, and when I tried to move my arms, nothing happened. My wrists were pulled tightly behind my back, held so firmly I could feel the strain travel up to my shoulders.For a moment, my mind refused to accept it, like I was still trying to wake up from a bad dream. Then I tried again, and the resistance didn’t change. That was when reality snapped into place so hard it made my stomach drop.I was tied.My eyes adjusted slowly to the dim space around me. The air was cold enough to make my skin prickle, and I could properly feel the hard press of stone or concrete beneath my feet, and the stiffness in my body from being held upright in a chair that didn’t give me any freedom to move.My throat was dry, and my pulse was already pounding so loudly it felt like it was filling the entire room.Then my eyes caught the out

Every memory I had of Flint seemed to split apart in my head, leaving me unable to reconcile the man sitting in front of me with the one I thought I had known all these years.The Flint I knew was the man who had pulled me out of the wreckage of my old life, who had stood beside Rowan through countless illnesses, who had become so deeply woven into our lives that I had stopped questioning his place in them.The man standing across from me now felt like a stranger wearing Flint's face, and the realization left me feeling hollow.“Why?” I asked, my voice barely steady enough to form the word. “Why would you do that to us?”I found myself searching his face for something that would make sense of all this. I didn't know if I was looking for remorse, guilt, or some explanation that would make this nightmare less unbearable, but I found none of it.Flint simply looked at me with the same detached calm he had carried throughout this entire conversation.“Why would I do that to you?” he repea

BROOK'S POVWhile the two men continued their heated exchange, I took the chance to fight for my life. I twisted my wrists against the ropes that kept digging into my skin and leaving angry, throbbing welts that burned with every movement.My shoulders began to ache, the muscles screaming from the constant strain, but the chair remained stubbornly rooted to the floor. No matter how hard I pulled or how desperately I thrashed, the restraints held me firmly in place.The weight of the situation finally settled deep into my bones. Flint certainly was not going to let me walk out of this room alive. There was no negotiation that could save me, and no plea large enough to satisfy his hunger for ruin.It was only a matter of time before he ended this, and as the realization took hold, my heart sank into a dark, suffocating pit of dread. I was trapped, and I could clearly see that I was going to die.The frantic hammering of my heart grew so loud that it drowned out their voices, turning the

74By the time I reached the council meeting room, exhaustion had settled deep into my bones.The entire palace felt tense. News of Levi's condition had spread quickly, and everyone seemed to be waiting for the same thing. A miracle or a disaster, and neither had arrived yet.I pushed open the doors to the meeting room expecting to find the elders gathered around the table.Instead, the room was nearly empty.Lord Drahzar sat at the far end of the table, his posture as composed as ever. Sera occupied a seat nearby, silent and unreadable. The rest of the chairs remained empty.I slowed as I stepped inside, my eyes sweeping across the room before settling on Drahzar."Where are the others?"Drahzar folded his hands together on the table."They aren't coming. We wanted to speak with you privately."The answer immediately put me on guard, and I remained standing rather than taking a seat."About what?"Drahzar held my gaze for a moment before replying."About the future of the throne, whi

THEO’S POVAfter the attack, I didn't take any chances. I had Levi, Brooks, and Rowan moved immediately to a different wing of the palace. One that had far fewer access points and could be secured properly.I doubled the guards posted outside their rooms and then doubled them again. Every person assigned to that floor was personally vetted. Every entrance was monitored, and every shift change was reviewed.Even after all of that, I couldn't get the image out of my head. The assassin had made it all the way into Levi's room. He had gotten past the palace gates, past the guards, and past every layer of security that should have stopped him long before he ever reached that door.The thought of what might have happened if I had arrived even a second late sat heavily in my mind no matter how hard I tried to push it away.There was only one person bold enough to attempt something like this and still expect to walk around so freely.Lord Drahzar.I left the palace and headed straight for hi