The Rise Of The Betrayed Luna (Amorah and Holmes) novel Chapter 86

Chapter 86

AMORAH

I remained standing near the desk while Conrad watched the closed door with a hard expression.

“They are becoming desperate,” Conrad muttered.

I folded my arms tightly across my chest. “Desperate people become reckless.”

His eyes shifted toward me immediately after I spoke. “Which is why your protection changes starting now.”

“I am not staying locked inside your territory,” I replied.

“You are not being confined,” he answered. “But you are no longer moving without guards.”

I stared at him for a moment before nodding once. The difference mattered more than he probably realized.

If Conrad had tried controlling my movements completely, I would have fought him on it immediately. Instead, he treated me like someone worth protecting without stripping away my choices.

The atmosphere around the territory shifted over the next few days. Wolves no longer looked at me like a temporary guest standing beside their Supreme Alpha.

They watched me like someone tied directly to him now. Some looked relieved by it, while others studied me carefully like they were still deciding what I meant to Conrad’s future.

I attended every strategy meeting beside him after that. At some point, wolves had stopped questioning why I was there. Conrad stood near the large council board while several patrol leaders updated him about border movement. I remained beside the table reviewing reports from the western routes while listening carefully.

“Blackridge patrols increased near the northern crossings,” one wolf reported. “Not enough to provoke conflict directly, bur enough to pressure movement.”

Conrad nodded once. “Increase watchers without engaging them.”

Another wolf stepped forward. “Several council territories are asking whether the succession hearing will remain private

“It will not,” Conrad answered flatly. “Holmes already made sure of that.”

The room quieted after that. I noticed several wolves glance toward me briefly before looking away again.

Conrad noticed it too.

“Anything involving Amorah comes directly through me,” he stated calmly. “No exceptions.”

No one argued with him after that.

Later that afternoon, I finally convinced Conrad to allow the twins outside the inner grounds again. The outing saved heavily guarded, but even Conrad admitted they could not remain hidden forever.

Kyra looked excited the moment we arrived at the public park inside the protected districi. Zave pretended na to care unnl he immediately started asking questions about everything around him.

“You are supposed to stay close.” I reminded him

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7:45 pm pppp

Chapter 86

at cluse he complained while walking barely two steps ahead of me.

Kyra held my hand quietly while watching children playing farther across the park. Her expression softened in a way I rarely saw inside the safe house.

“It feels normal here,” she whispered.

The words hit harder than I expected. Neither of them should have been old enough to understand the difference between safety and normalcy.

“You deserve normal,” I answered softly.

Zane scoffed from nearby. “Nothing about our lives is normal.”

Before I could respond, movement near the entrance caught my attention. Conrad walked toward us with two guards behind him, his dark coat hanging loose over his shoulders.

Kyra smiled immediately after spotting him. Zane tried pretending he was not relieved to see him.

“You came,” Kyra said.

Conrad stopped beside us and looked down at her. “You sound surprised.”

“You usually work all day,” she replied honestly.

A faint expression crossed his face before he crouched slightly near her. “I finished early.”

That was a lie. I knew Conrad well enough now to recognize one immediately.

Zane crossed his arms. “Did Amorah force you to come?”

“No,” Conrad answered while glancing briefly toward me. “I wanted to see how things were going.”

The twins eventually wandered toward a nearby snack stand under guard supervision. Conrad moved beside me quietly while watching them.

“You look tired,” he murmured.

“You look worse,” I replied.

That earned the smallest reaction from him. “You have become too observant.”

Γ

“You stopped hiding it properly,” I answered.

For a moment neither of us spoke. The noise from the park continued around us while Conrad’s shoulder brushed lightly against mine.

Watching him stand there with the twins nearby felt dangerously familiar. I hated how natural it had started feeling. “They trust you,” Conrad said after a while.

I looked toward Kyra laughing softly at something Zane muttered under his breath. “I did not plan for that “Neither did 1,” he admitted..

The honesty in his voice made me glance at him immediately. Conrad rarely admitted uncertainty out loud

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7:45 pm

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that night, sher she twins returned safely to the deeper safe house, I stayed with Conrad inside his private office again. Reports covered almost every surface while rain pressed lightly against the windows outside.

Teatarres I sat as from him reviewing old council records connected to Bethany. The more I read, the more I realized her actions had never been impulsive

“she prepares years ahead,” I said quietly.

Conrad looked up from another report. “You noticed it too.”

I nodded slowly. “Every move she makes creates another opening somewhere else. Even when she loses, she gains

“She spent years studying succession laws before Holmes became useful to her,” Conrad replied. “That alone tells me she was always planning for power beyond Silvercrest.”

1 leaned back slightly in my chair. “She does not just want control.”

“No” Conrad answered. “She wants permanence,”

The realization sat heavily between us. Bethany did not fight emotionally the way most enemies did.

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