Haskell put his phone on speaker and set it on the nightstand. He picked up a small ring box, opening it gently to reveal a pair of wedding bands,\u00a0<\/p>\n
The design was elegantly simple, free of any ornate decorations. The surface of each ring was engraved with delicate, flowing lines, like blades of grass, giving them a look that was both fresh and sophisticated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the moment he had first seen Larissa and heard she had agreed to the marriage alliance, Haskell had been planning their engagement and their future wedding. He looked forward to each new day, bringing him one step closer to marrying her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After a long moment, Haskell closed the box and set it back on the table, turning his thoughts to Draven\u2019s actions that night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meeting with Finley and Honora was understandable. Draven was still smarting from his humiliation at Larissa\u2019s hands and wanted to team up against her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But why visit Torrin? Was he planning to have Torrin reveal his past relationship with Larissa at the party to embarrass him?\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was just a past relationship. Even if it came out, what did it matter? Draven wouldn\u2019t resort to such a mild tactic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Haskell had a good idea of the real plan. It was as crude as it was predictable: drug Larissa and Torrin, then have them discovered in a compromising position by all the guests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That way, he would get his revenge on Larissa and humiliate Haskell by making him a cuckold at his own engagement party.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeep, beep.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His phone rang. Seeing it was Larissa, he answered immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHaskell, just a heads\u2013up about something,\u201d her cheerful voice came through the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A faint smile touched Haskell\u2019s lips. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThings might get a little bloody at our engagement party tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying for high stakes, are we?\u201d Haskell raised an eyebrow. \u201cBut if you think it\u2019s necessary, do as you please.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Larissa laughed. \u201cYou\u2019re the best. But don\u2019t worry, with me around, no one will actually die.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Intrigued, Haskell replied, \u201cAs it happens, I\u2019ve also found out something that might be related.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDraven met with Finley and Honora tonight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that so? Well, then maybe we can take care of Finley and Draven at the same time tomorrow.\u201d Larissa told him about her ability to control venomous creatures and shared her theory. \u201cI originally thought Finley would act himself, but it looks like it\u2019ll be Draven.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
22.30\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 244\u00a0<\/p>\n
Haskell smiled. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. Since they\u2019re working together, neither of them will escape. I\u2019ll have Crispin gather all the evidence we need to crush Draven. You just focus on Finley.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After hanging up, a deep, unreadable light flickered in Haskell\u2019s dark eyes. Anyone who dared to ruin his engagement party would pay the price.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Larissa tossed her phone aside and lay back on the bed, playfully tickling Sage with her finger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow, you three need to be very good at hide\u2013and\u2013seek, alright?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sage bobbed its head, then slithered over to Shadow and Snowy, tapping them with its tail until they, too, reluctantly nodded. It then returned to Larissa, wrapping itself around her finger as if asking for praise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Larissa chuckled, stroking its cool head with her other hand. \u201cMy Sage is the cutest. Alright, go get some rest. I\u2019ve got a big battle to fight tomorrow, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sage immediately unwound itself from her finger, curled up between Shadow and Snowy, and went to sleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Wings of Broken Time by Alina Das 244 Haskell put his phone on speaker and set it on the nightstand. […]<\/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":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-throne-of-thorns-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30763","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=30763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30763\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}