Chapter 157\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the twins finally went down for the night, I joined them on the couch. Rae nudged Cassian with her shoulder. \u201cYou Moonstone men are all the same,\u201d she said. \u201cBroody, mysterious, heroic in a way that makes me suspicious.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cassian chuckled. \u201cAnd yet you seem to like us anyway.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She smirked. \u201cMaybe I just like a challenge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I rolled my eyes, hiding my smile. \u201cPlease don\u2019t start flirting in front of the babies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae winked. \u201cThey\u2019re asleep.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The room was warm with laughter. For the first time since I\u2019d come back, it felt like a home\u2014alive, full of light.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But of course, peace never lasted long.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two days later, Kieran arrived again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t call first. Just appeared at the door, his familiar confident smile in place, a small box in his hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEllie,\u201d he greeted smoothly. \u201cI hope I\u2019m not intruding.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I hesitated, torn between politeness and dread. It wasn\u2019t that I didn\u2019t want to see him. I just wasn\u2019t sure how Rae would react to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two of them hadn\u2019t met before to my knowledge, but I\u2019d talked to her about him plenty. About his offer of a political marriage, about his fliration and charm, about the warnings I\u2019d been given about him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, of course not. Come in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae, ever the extrovert, appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. \u201cYou must be Kieran,\u201d she said brightly. \u201cI\u2019ve heard about you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kieran\u2019s smile didn\u2019t falter. \u201cAll good things, I hope.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I saw Rae size him up. His tall, lean figure, his light hair and sharp eyes. She took it all in with a brief flicker of her eyes and I knew her well enough to see the suspicion settle over her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae\u2019s grin sharpened slightly. \u201cMostly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tension that followed was polite, Kieran assessing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
t electric. I could practically feel the two of them sizing each other up-Rae protective,\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI brought something for the boys,\u201d he said, offering the box. Inside were two small carved wolf figurines, polished and delicate. \u201cPine Ridge tradition. For luck.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re beautiful,\u201d I said softly, though unease stirred under my gratitude. \u201cYou didn\u2019t have to-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to,\u201d he interrupted, voice low, sincere. \u201cI care about you Ellie. About them, and right now the only way I can really show that is through gifts. So let me spoil you a little.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae raised an eyebrow but said nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The conversation stayed light after that, but I felt Kieran\u2019s gaze on me constantly, studying, searching. When he finally left, Rae turned to me with arms crossed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s trouble,\u201d she said flatly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just trying to help,\u201d I said, though the words sounded weakven to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rae gave me that look again, the one that saw through everything. He\u2019s trying to make you need him. That\u2019s not help, Ellie. That\u2019s control.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her words sank deep, unsettling something I hadn\u2019t wanted to name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chaptorsz\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next morning, I mentioned Kieran\u2019s visit to Alaric while we were walking the twins through the packhouse garden. The air was heavy with the scent of rain, and the last of the light filtered through the trees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came to see you again?\u201d Alaric\u2019s tone was even, but his expression shifted to something sharp, almost cold. \u201cYes,\u201d I said, frowning. \u201cHe brought gifts for the boys, again. He was\u2026 kind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric stopped walking. \u201cBe careful with him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I blinked. \u201cYou sound like Rae.\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen perhaps you should listen to her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something in his voice made me shiver. \u201cWhy do you say that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cKieran\u2019s family has always played both sides of a line they claim not to see,\u201d he said. \u201cHe hides it well, but his loyalty is to himself first. Remember that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wanted to argue, to say that Kieran had been nothing but supportive, but the look in Alaric\u2019s eyes silenced me. It wasn\u2019t anger, it was knowledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He reached out, brushing a stray lock of hair from my face in a gesture that was paternal and comforting. \u201cYou have a good heart, Ellie. Don\u2019t let someone use it against you. It\u2019s natural that you want to protect your boys, but don\u2019t let that instinct overpower logic and caution. Trust me, it will lead to trouble.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His voice was soft, but the warning lingered long after he turned away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It made me think of Nolan. Taking the boys and running away like had was an act of fear and the more time that passed the more it felt like a mistake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
BIG SALE: 3500 bonus free fou you\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 157 Chapter 157\u00a0 +25 Bonus\u00a0 When the twins finally went down for the night, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-unremembered-mate-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}