The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 97

Power without command–1

(Isla)

We didn’t speak when we left the room. Caius didn’t ask if I was sure, and I didn’t need him to. The decision had already settled inside me, quiet and firm. I wanted to see them where they had been taken.

The corridor opened ahead of us, and the guards moved before we reached them. Their heads lowered faster than before, not only for Caius this time. Nelt the difference in the way their bodies reacted, in the way their eyes dropped before they could fully meet mine. Something in me noticed without needing to question it.

Caius walked beside me, not in front of me. He didn’t guide me with his hand or pull me in any direction. He simply moved with me, and that made the path feel like mine too. I held my head up because lowering it no longer felt natural.

The inner wing changed as we went deeper. The walls grew thicker, the doors heavier, and the air carried the scent of iron, stone, and fear. This wasn’t the hall where judgment had been spoken in front of everyone. This was where judgment became real.

Two guards stood before a narrow stairwell at the end of the passage. They stepped aside the moment Caius approached, but their attention moved to me before they lowered their heads. One of them swallowed hard, like he had felt something before I had done anything at all. I didn’t stop to look at him.

We went down.

The steps were cold beneath my feet, but the cold didn’t reach me the way it once would have. I could feel the shape of the place before we reached the bottom, could feel the bodies below, the fear held behind doors and iron. Vaela stirred inside me, quiet but present. She didn’t push forward.

‘They’re here,’ she said.

‘I know,’ I answered.

Her presence warmed through me, not wild and not demanding. It sat beneath my skin like strength that had been waiting for me to stop denying it. I didn’t feel alone with her there. I didn’t feel small with Caius beside me either.

୮

At the bottom of the stairs, another door waited. it was guarded by four of Caius’s men, all standing with weapons ready and eyes sharp. When they saw us, they moved as one, opening the way without question. The door groaned softly as it moved inward.

The holding chambers stretched ahead.

The space was long and narrow, lined with separate cells on both sides. Torches burned along the walls, throwing light over iron bars and stone floors. It wasn’t loud inside, but it wasn’t peaceful either. Fear had a sound even when no one spoke.

I stepped through first.

Caius let me.

That was the first thing I understood.

Clam

He could have entered before me, could have filled the space with his title and command before I had a chance to breathe. He didn’t. He gave me the first step into the room where they were waiting.

The reaction came before anyone spoke.

A guard lowered his head so quickly his chin nearly touched his chest. Another shifted back a step, then caught himself and went still. Somewhere down the row, someone drew in a breath too fast. The sound ended before it became anything else.

I kept walking.

The first cell held Rodan.

He stood near the back wall, wrists bound, shoulders tense, face turned toward the bars. His eyes found Caius first out of habit, but they didn’t stay there. The moment they moved to me, something in his face changed.

It wasn’t disbelief this time.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify