Semua Bab I Woke Up Engaged To An Alpha: Bab 31 - Bab 40

SIGRUN Hours later, the castle was entirely dark, but my mind was a sleepless, tangled mess. I lay flat on my back in the center of a bed large enough to sleep a family of four, staring up at the heavy velvet canopy. The silence in the room was deafening. It was funny, really—back in my world, I would have killed for this much peace and quiet. Here, it just felt like a desert. My skin felt overly sensitized, humming with a restless, hollow ache that made it impossible to settle. I couldn't shake the clinical way Lord Krev had talked about us, but more than that, I couldn't shake the frustrating, disappointing reality of my current situation. I was sleeping alone. Again. In a frozen fortress at the edge of the world, married to a man who looked at me like he wanted to devour me, yet who left me to shiver by myself under layers of heavy furs every single night. Unable to pace the confines of my own bedroom anymore, I finally threw a heavy shawl over my shoulders and slipped

VARULWeak. Coward. Chivalrous, pathetic fool.Siren’s voice tore at the base of my skull, a low, grinding friction that tasted of iron and ancient, thwarted fury. Within the dark space of my mind, the beast did not merely pace; he threw his massive weight against the bars of my restraint, his jaws snapping close enough to make my own teeth ache.“Silence,” I commanded internally, my bare feet biting the freezing stone of the corridor with heavy, measured steps.I will not be silent! We left her, Varul. Again! Her scent still hangs heavy on our skin—the sweet taste of her arousal is a hot brand on our tongue, and you turned your back. For what? To play the saint?“I am keeping her whole,” I fired back, my thoughts a rigid shield against his rage. “If we force the bond now, we might break her. I stand by what I said; I will not rule her by ruin.”Gods, you self-righteous coward. I remember your first excuse on the road from Windsmoor. ‘Oh, Siren, she is a sheltered Southern princess, I

SIGRUNBreakfast was over, and I had no choice but to take the Alpha up on his offer.He didn’t offer his arm. He didn’t look back at me. But he was hyper-aware of my presence; I could tell by the rigid, deliberate set of his shoulders and the way he subtly adjusted his usual massive stride so I wouldn't have to jog to keep pace. Every time a servant or a guard passed us, bowing deeply against the masonry to clear the path, Varul’s head would tilt ever so slightly toward my side of the hallway, a silent, protective shield."The texts are kept in the west wing," Varul said, his deep, gravelly voice cutting through the quiet of the vaulted corridor. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead. "Isolated from the main barracks and the central courtyard. There is less risk of fire, and fewer idle ears to carry rumors of what is read."Uh…okay? I wasn’t sure what to respond to that since I was still trying to get in terms with the fact that he was playing tour guide. A very un-Alpha-King role.

SIGRUNThe heavy iron-reinforced oak doors of the castle were already thrown wide by the time I made it past Marta. I didn’t stop to think about Northern court rules, or whether the Alpha’s wife was supposed to stay indoors during a crisis.I stepped out onto the wide stone landing at the castle entrance, the freezing northern air instantly biting through the fabric of my dress.Down in the courtyard, a convoy of horses and armored men had ground to a halt. There were easily forty to fifty of them, and every single one looked utterly spent. Their cloaks were caked in dried mud and stained dark with frozen slush. Their faces were hollow, their eyes staring blankly at nothing, jawlines rigid with an exhaustion that went straight to the bone.Two men at the front of the line—both massive, broad-shouldered, and wearing the heavy silver-clasped mantles of high-ranking commanders—were currently unmounting. Later, I’d learn their names were Zophyr and Omri, but right then, they were just tw

VARUL “I dare you.” The challenge hung in the frozen air of the chamber. Halvar did not back down. Foolish pride, born of decades serving under a tyrant, hardened his jaw. He opened his mouth, his lips forming the first syllable of my father’s name. He never finished it. I moved. The thin veneer of royal composure I had maintained for years shattered into a thousand jagged pieces. Before Halvar could blink, my hand shot forward. My fingers clamped around his throat like an iron vise. The crack of his back striking the stone pillar behind him echoed through the council chamber. The thick muscles of his neck compressed under my grip as I lifted him cleanly off his feet, driving him upward until his boots dangled a foot above the stone floor. A collective gasp tore through the room. The scent of fear flooded the chamber. Halvar’s hands instantly flew to my wrist, his fingers clawing frantically at my skin, but it was like trying to pry apart solid rock. His cocky def