Chapter 99 The Crown He Chose

• Bonus Scene
• The estate was still, the kind of quiet that came only after the war was done and the bodies were buried. No shadows moved in the halls, no whispers echoed in the dark. And for the first time in what felt like forever, Amara could breathe.
• Lucien had disappeared for most of the morning—odd for a man who barely left her side. But she hadn’t asked. Not yet. Because whatever he was planning, she knew it wasn’t about power or blood or strategy.