81
I pulled my hood closer to my face, trying to hide the rush of nerves swirling beneath my skin as I stepped into the garden.
The might
was cool, the ser
scent of wet grass and faint blossoms trailing in the breeze. Moonlight lit the garden in silver streaks, and somewhere in the distance. T heard the soft Isabbile of the fountain.
Where was he! I wondered. I looked around biting my lips. I felt nervous going to find him like this.
I felt like a prostitute called to bed with a man at midnight..
Maybe I should go back.
- k. There is no use for this,
What of if it’s a trap? My eyes widened. I didn’t think of that.
That’s why Ada said I sucked. Because sincerely I did.
I wanted to leave when a broken branch was heard.
“Hello, lule wolf
That voice. I froze for half a second, then looked up. There he was,
Leaning Lazily against the stone railing, dressed in a loose black shirt with the first few buttons undone and dark pants that looked far too expensive for a casual stroll. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing the edges of inked tattoos curling up his arms, disappearing beneath the fabric.
Eblinked.
Not just at him. But At the way his shirt shifted just slightly with the breeze, exposing a large swirling mark across his chest. I hadn’t seen it before not in full and I couldn’t help but stare. The ink danced in the moonlight like something alive, deep drawings and sharp edges forming patterns I couldn’t decipher right away.
He saw me looking.
Of course he did. I wasn’t ashamed that I was curious about his tattoo. I met his eyes and he smiled slow, almost lazy.
“Curious?” he asked, tilting his head.
I hesitated, then nodded. They’re.. beautiful. Complicated but beautiful.”
“They are,” he agreed, casually stepping closer, the fabric of his shirt rustling as he moved. “Each one means something”
“What does that one mean?” I asked softly, pointing toward the crest that peeked across his collarbone.
His gaze followed my finger, then he reached up and tugged the fabric aside, revealing it more clearly.
A wolf. Intertwined with vines. Its eyes closed.
“This one’s for restraint,” he said after a beat. “It’s a reminder. That power without control is a curse. Not a gift.”
I stared at it, the way the vines looped around the beast’s legs, like they were both binding it and protecting it. “Who did it?”
His sanile faded, just a little. “An old friend. He died a long time ago.
The weight of those words hung in the silence between us. I swallowed. “I’m sorry”
He looked at me then, really looked at me, with those sharp grey eyes that felt like they saw everything I didn’t want anyone to notice.
- he. He was the kind of man who knew his time was short. He lived fast. Died faster.” He glanced up at the sky briefly before
I nodded unsure what to say
Haiden took a deep breath, as if trying to shake something off. “You always look like you’re about to say something
Irated an rychrow. “Do 1?“
ething important, Elena”
510 PM
Chapter S1
He smirked. “Yes. But then you don’t. You just keep your thoughts wrapped up in that careful little mind of yours”
“Well, I was told I talk too much.
“By who?”
I shrugged, bring back a smile. “A dead girl.”
Olivia. She once told me to hush back in Maxwell’s pack. I talked to much and it got me in too much trouble. So I learned to be quiet, unfortunately it didn’t work. My head is still busy and I still over think
His smirk turned into something gentler, like amusement edged with curiosity. “So you hear ghosts now!”
“Maybe” I leaned against the stone a few feet from him. “Maybe I just have too many voices in my head.”
He hummed. “You and me both”
Silence settled again.
Not awkward.
Just quiet.
I glanced at him, his profile sharp against the silver–blue sky. His jaw relaxed for once, his shoulders less tense. He seemed–softer tonight.
Less guarded.
More real.
Like he’d peeled away the rebel king mask for just this moment and was just… Harden..
I didn’t know what to do with that.
“Can I ask you something?” he said suddenly, breaking the quiet.
I turned toward him. “You just did.”
His lips i
twitched. “Smartass
“Sorry”
“Don’t be. I like it”
He looked at me then, gaze unreadable. “But really. Can 17”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah. You can.”
He didn’t ask right away.
Just stared at me.
He cocked his head to the side, and for a second, I thought maybe he had changed his mind. But then he spoke quietly. “What do you think of crowns?”
I blinked
Of all the questions that wasn’t what I expected.
“Crowns!” I echoed, just to be sure I heard right.
He nodded, eyes flickering down to the ground for a beat, then back to mine. “Yes. Crowns Power. What people become when they wear them.”
I leaned back against the railing, folding my arms. “You mean like yours?”
“No,” he said, lips twitching “I mean like yours”
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Chapter St
That made me laugh. A nalet, stunned sound. Tin a maid, remember! My crown’s probably a mop”
He smiled, but their was something distant in his eyes. “You were never just a mail. Not even for a second.”
1 looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. The wright of the moon above us, the quier pull of the garden, the scent of Bowers too sweet- it was all starting to feel like a setup. A trap of soft words and open honesty.
I wasn’t trady for honesty. Not here.
“Is that why you called me out here!” I askril, voler fit. “To get sentimental about crowns?”
He didn’t answer
He just watched me…
I sighed. “You want to know what I think of crowns?” I turned to face him fully. “I think they ruin people. I think they’re heavy and cold and everyone who wears one eventually forgets how to be a person.”
His mouth twitched again, but noj into a smile this time. More like a grim understanding.
“I think,” I added, “that you either become a puppet, or the one pulling strings.”
51 thin
He nodded slowly. So you believe there’s no in–between”
“I haven’t seen one yet.
That made him laugh. Not mockingly, Just soft and surprised.
“Why are you laughing?” I asked, scouting
“You just” be tilted his head again. “You speak like someone who’s seen the world, not someone scrubbing floors and carrying water buckets
I rolled my
y eyes. “And yo
you speak like someone who wants to sound wise but is really just avoiding a real conversation.”
That made him chuckle louder, and I hated that it made something flatter in my chest.
He took a step closer, close enough that I could see the faint scar along his jawline. I wondered where he got it. What fight he won. Or
Just
“When I saw you by the stream,” he said slowly. “I knew who you were,
My breath caught
“I knew,” he said again. The moment you stepped in, the way you moved, the stubbornness in your eyes, I knew it was you.”
I stared at him, heart suddenly pounding for a whole dillerent reason. “Knew it was me how?”
He shrugged. “A girl from the south.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
His eyes softened. “Because i didn’t want you to see me as the king.”
I frowned. “What difference does it make?”
“You ser Alarie’s crown,” he said, stepping even closer. “You see the fear it creates. The control. The curse that wraps around him like chan I didn’t want you in Sook at me and see that. I want you to see a friend. So even though I knew, I acted normal”
dn’t know what to my
Because he wasn’t wrong
Talid see Alaric that way. Most of the time lug other times I don’t
“You wanted me in
me to see you without your crown.” I said softly
Chapter 81
He nodded. “I wanted to be just a man.”
“And now?”
He gave a small shrug, gaze holding mine. “Now I don’t know if it matters anymore.
The wind rustled between us.
My heart was thudding so loudly I was sure he could hear it. I looked up at him, the man who was supposed to be my enemy. The man 1
1 was meant to spy on. The man who kissed me beside a stream and didn’t ask for anything in return.
And now stood in front of me, not as a king or a rebel or a threat–but as Harden
“Is that why you asked about crowns?” I asked.
He smiled faintly. “I asked because I was hoping you hadn’t put one on yet.”
“I don’t have any
crown,” I said.
He didn’t laugh this time.
He just looked at me, eyes quiet, a little too focused like he was seeing something I didn’t even know I was showing. My fingers curled
into my palm as the silence stretched between us, thick and strange.
“Who said so?” he asked, voice low. “You do know I know who yo
u are, don’t you, Liana?”
I froze.
Not Elena.
Liana
The
way
it rolled off his tongue made my stomach clenched.
He had said my real name,
The air shifted and my breath caught. I gasped as I saw him move.
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