The Messenger( Iva) novel Chapter 191

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Mira-1

The tension woke Iva before the sun did.

She had been sleeping peacefully, curled against Caleb’s warmth, the bond humming soft and steady between them. But something had shifted. Something had darkened the edges of her dream.

She opened her eyes.

Caleb was already awake. He stood by the window, his back to her, one hand braced against the stone frame. His shoulders were tight. His jaw was set. Even in the pale pre-dawn light, she could see the tension radiating from him like heat from a furnace.

Through the bond, she felt it.

Stress. Heavy and sharp and carefully contained. He was trying to block her from feeling it-she could sense the walls he had erected in his mind-but it leaked through anyway. Like water through cracks in a dam.

Iva sat up slowly, the sheets pooling around her waist.

“Caleb?”

He didn’t turn around.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” His voice was flat. Controlled. “Go back to sleep.”

She didn’t move.

“Caleb.”

He was quiet for a long moment. Then his head dropped forward, his hand curling into a fist against the

stone.

“I have to go.”

Iva’s heart clenched. “Go where?”

He turned then, and the look on his face made her breath catch. His eyes were dark, shadowed with something she hadn’t seen till that moment. Worry. Frustration. And beneath it all, a bone-deep exhaustion.

“There are meetings. Deals I have to attend to in person. I’ve been putting them off, but I can’t anymore His jaw tightened. “Kingdom business.”

Through the bond, she felt the weight of it. The responsibility pressing down on him. The dozens of demands pulling him in different directions. The stress of being royal-a stress he had been hiding from her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked softly.

Caleb crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. His hand found hers, fingers intertwining.

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“Because I hate it.” His voice was raw. “I hate leaving you alone.”

tva squeezed his hand. “I’ll be fine. I’m not going anywhere.”

Caleb’s lips twisted-not quite a smile, not quite a grimace.

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“We all know how good it went last time I was away,” he said, his voice dripping with irony. “When you ran away.”

Iva’s face flushed. Heat crept up her neck and spread across her cheeks. She looked down at their joined hands, suddenly unable to meet his eyes.

“I left because I had reasons,” she retorted, her voice smaller than she intended. “Which is not the case anymore.”

Caleb’s free hand came up to cup her chin, gently tilting her face toward his. His eyes searched hers, and the irony faded, replaced by something softer.

“I know,” he said quietly. “Forgive my comment, but I just hate it.”

He pulled her into his arms, holding her against his chest. She felt his heartbeat beneath her cheek- steady, strong, but faster than usual. The stress was still there, pulsing through the bond, but beneath it was something else. Something warm.

“I can’t take you with me,” he murmured into her hair. “Not yet. Not until the official announcement at the ceremony, which is a few weeks away.”

Iva nodded against his chest.

“The risks are too high if your identity is revealed before,” he continued. “As you’re not officially declared a princess yet. There are too many enemies. Too many powerful men who hoped I would take a chosen mate from their families. And you are an obstacle in their path.”

Iva pulled back just enough to look at him.

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