Chapter 165\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t,\u201d Alaric said simply. \u201cHe was surviving.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The word hit Lance harder than he expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric continued, his tone gentle but unwavering. \u201cI remember your father\u2019s training sessions. He would drive Nolan past exhaustion. The boy could barely stand on some days. But he never quit. He couldn\u2019t. Not when his father was watching.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance\u2019s jaw clenched. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t anyone stop him?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t that unusual back in the old days, and I guess a lot of us didn\u2019t feel right criticizing tradition,\u201d Alaric said. \u201cYour father believed he was preparing Nolan for leadership, for the weight of the throne. In truth, he was teaching him fear of failure, of weakness, of emotion. When your parents died, that fear became his compass.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n
Silence settled between them, heavy and fragile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance felt something tighten in his throat. \u201cHe told me he blamed himself for their deaths.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric nodded. \u201cHe does. And maybe, in some ways, he\u2019s right. He led them into that fight. But he was a boy trying to save himself from the expectations he was struggling to meet. The fault doesn\u2019t belong to him alone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance exhaled slowly. The room felt smaller somehow. \u201cI\u2019ve been told that you were there. Afterward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was,\u201d Alaric said. \u201cI saw what was left of that night. I saw the look in his eyes when he realized they were gone. There was no rage. No grief. Just\u2026 silence. That kind of loss can change a man.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance rubbed a hand over his face, the weight of it all pressing down. \u201cNo wonder he turned out the way he did.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe turned out stronger than anyone expected,\u201d Alaric said. \u201cWhen your parents died, the other packs thought Silver Fang would crumble. A boy Alpha with no experience? They thought the title would destroy him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it almost did,\u201d Lance said bitterly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps,\u201d Alaric conceded. \u201cBut it didn\u2019t. He rebuilt his pack from ashes. He learned to lead, to command respect, to instill order. Whatever his faults, your brother did what none of us believed possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance looked up, eyes sharp with disbelief. \u201cYou\u2019re saying he saved Silver Fang.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric smiled faintly. \u201cI\u2019m saying it\u2019s a miracle he survived it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The words sank in slowly, settling somewhere deep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
>>\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance had always known his brother was hard, unyielding. But he had never thought of him as resilient. Not until\u00a0<\/p>\n
now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. \u201cAll this time, I thought he was trying to control everything because he wanted power. But maybe he was just\u2026 trying not to lose it all again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaric nodded. \u201cWe repeat what we don\u2019t repair.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance gave a small, humorless laugh. \u201cYou sound like Ellie.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s wise beyond her years,\u201d Alaric said warmly. \u201cMoonstone blood runs deep in her, whether she remembers all of it yet or not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance smiled faintly. \u201cHe still loves her, you know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 165\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d Alaric said. \u201cAnd someday, she\u2019ll see it. But love built on pain must learn to heal before it can last.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance let the words linger, staring at the grain of the desk. The image of Nolan\u2019s face-the guilt, the regret- flashed again in his mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to envy him,\u201d Lance said softly. \u201cThe perfect son. The perfect Alpha. Now I just pity him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t,\u201d Alaric said gently. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t need pity. He needs grace.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lance looked up. \u201cYou think he deserves that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we all do,\u201d Alaric replied. \u201cEven the ones who don\u2019t believe it. Maybe especially them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The conversation drifted after that-talk of politics, of shifting alliances, of the quiet rumors spreading about the goddess\u2019s return. But the heart of it stayed with Lance long after he left the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Outside, the sun was setting, turning the world gold. He paused at the edge of the courtyard, breathing in the cool air, and thought about what Alaric had said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A miracle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe that was what he\u2019d always failed to see. He had hated Nolan, blamed him for everything. For years, he\u2019d screamed at him, insulted him, belittled him. Nolan had just taken it. He\u2019d never tried to defend himself once. Lance had always assumed it was because he just didn\u2019t care that Lance\u2019s words meant nothing to him. But now, the truth was starting to sink in, and it made his heart ache.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan had never defended himself because deep down, he had agreed with Lance\u2019s harsh condemnations. He had seen himself as the villain, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
P\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 165 Chapter 165\u00a0 \u201cHe didn\u2019t,\u201d Alaric said simply. \u201cHe was surviving.\u201d\u00a0 The word hit […]<\/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-23734","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\/23734","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=23734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23734\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}