The Alpha's Unclaimed Mate novel Chapter 382

Chapter 382: Heroes Don’t Poison Princesses

DARKHOWLER

The first Fae portal opened in a ravine two miles south of the castle.

Agnes had said ravine. Agnes had said low ground. Agnes had said the least likely position, and the ravine that split the southern approach was so tactically irrelevant that Darkhowler’s patrol maps didn’t give it a name, which was exactly why Reginald Viremont had chosen it.

It was going to need a name now. Agnes would suggest one later. Something petty. Something her father would hate.

And shocker. Her father had run the exact play she had described, in the exact location she had flagged, using the exact method she had warned them about.

"SOUTHERN RAVINE! FAE SIGNATURE! PORTAL IS OPEN!"

The shout came from the mage pair Agnes had insisted on stationing at every ley line intersection within fifteen miles.

Gold magic surged toward the portal’s anchor point, slamming into the Fae aperture with enough force to destabilize the edges. The portal flickered. Contracted. Three wolves cleared the aperture before it collapsed, hitting the ravine floor at combat speed, already shifting, already moving toward the castle.

Darkhowler’s archers, repositioned to the southern battlements on Agnes’s recommendation forty minutes ago, were already drawn.

Captain Aldren’s voice cut through the wall. "Southern archers. Kill zone is active."

Twelve bows released. The wolves made it ninety yards before the first volley found them. Ironic. Her father’s wolves went down in a ravine her father chose, killed by ammunition his daughter recommended.

Inside the war room, Agnes listened to the engagement report holding Andrew, who was fast asleep.

✦✦✦

DRAKENFELL — KING’S STUDY

Three hundred miles east, Tiberon Drakenfell rolled the parchment into a tight cylinder and set it on the desk with the deliberate precision of a man placing a loaded weapon on a flat surface.

"Walk me through what she actually gave us," Dex began. "Viremont is moving with Orosia. Knew that. Cascading invasion. Obvious play given Darkhowler and Bloodmoon sizes and locations in Skardos." He took a sip. "She wrapped an obvious play in a story about climbing walls and stealing children so we’d feel something about it back, and now we’re treating her like a strategic asset."

He pushed off the wall. "The only new piece of information in this entire package is that Agnes Viremont was running a double operation inside an allied castle, and given what that woman is capable of, I find the revelation that she was also a spy to be the least surprising sentence I have read this year."

"Agreed," Hyran commented as he looked out the window. "The intelligence provides no capabilities assessment we lacked and no strategic insight we hadn’t already modeled."

He turned from the window. His arms stayed crossed.

"What concerns me is the framing. This intelligence is being presented as a defection. Agnes Viremont, the woman who poisoned the Crown Princess, who drugged the Crown Prince, who ran an espionage operation inside Darkhowler for months without detection, is now positioned as the hero of Darkhowler’s defense." His eyes found Tiberon’s. "An agent burns her handler, provides just enough accurate intelligence to establish credibility, and earns a position of trust inside the target she was originally sent to infiltrate. The only difference between Phase 1 and Phase 2 is that Phase 2 comes with gratitude."

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