All Chapters of Corrupted By The Lycan King: Chapter 61 - Chapter 67

KieraLater that evening, just as the moon climbed high into the velvet night sky, another knock sounded at my door, this one much heavier, slower, and more commanding.When I opened it, I froze in place.Alistair stood in the doorway but something was different in his eyes. The harsh, arrogant tyrant king of yesterday was gone, and was replaced by a man who looked deeply exhausted, haunted by guilt and sleeplessness. Dark bruises of fatigue shadowed the skin beneath his striking golden eyes, and his broad shoulders were slightly hunched under the weight of his crown."Kiera," he murmured, his voice rough, hesitant, and quiet.I crossed my arms defensively over my chest, glaring up at him with cold, unyielding eyes. I hadn't forgotten the shrine, his cruel words telling me I was nothing compared to Lenora, or the terrifying moment his fist cracked the stone wall inches from my head."What do you want, Alistair?" I asked coldly, making no move to invite him inside my domain. "Did you

KieraDawn did not break softly over the capital that morning; it crawled in like a bleeding wound.I woke up before the sun, my chest still heavy from the lingering terror of the market riot and the chaotic emotions Alistair had stirred inside me. But before I could even wash the sleep from my eyes, frantic shouting echoed from the stone corridors outside my chamber door. Heavy footsteps thundered against the flagstones, followed by the panicked, breathless voice of a royal guard shouting for the Alpha King.Throwing on a dark wool tunic and pulling my hair back into a tight braid, I yanked my chamber door open just as Susan and Elara hurried up to me, their faces stark white with absolute terror."Kiera, thank the Moon you're awake," Susan gasped, her hands trembling as she grabbed my arms. "You need to come to the command balcony right now. Everything outside the palace walls... it's gone."What?“What do you mean gone?” My heart dropped into my stomachat the look of panic on her f

KieraThe toxic crop poison continued to defy every single standard royal antidote the palace alchemists tried. Within forty-eight hours, the blight spread closer to the inner walls, and panic among the nobles reached a boiling point.Realizing that Alistair's traditional military forces could not stop the sorcery, the Elder Council bypassed the Alpha King's direct authority entirely. Invoking an ancient constitutional clause, they forced an emergency assembly."My King, we have no choice," Head Elder Malakor declared, slamming his staff against the marble floor of the great hall. "The dark signature of this blight matches Dimitri's ancestral bloodline magic. Furthermore, these outer valleys legally belong to his house. Under ancient law, he has a right to return to the kingdom. Bring hi back snd let him resolve the problem."Alistair looked like he wanted to rip Malakor’s throat out with his bare teeth. "You want to invite the very terrorist who poisoned our crops right into the hear

KieraBack in my chambers, sleep was entirely out of the question.Tossing and turning on the oversized mattress, my mind raced in a hundred different directions. But what kept bugging me wasn't Dimitri's arrogant smirk, or the council's blatant betrayal, or even the looming threat of the crop blight.It was Alistair's face.As I watched him storm out of the banquet hall, I hadn't just seen blind anger. I had seen deep, bone-weary exhaustion. I had seen a man who was fighting a war on every single front, completely alone, carrying the crushing weight of an entire kingdom on his shoulders while his own council stabbed him in the back.For all my anger at him over the shrine room, a sudden, heavy wave of sympathy squeezed my heart.Quietly sliding out of bed, I threw a dark wool cloak over my shoulders and slipped out of my chamber. The palace corridors were dark, cold, and entirely silent at this hour. Guided by pure instinct, I walked down toward the inner courtyards, eventually pushi