His Despised Stray Is A Hidden Queen

na Aco

, and don't make this har

t pouch of Glowgold across the polished wood with the tip of his manicured finger. The sound of the coins clinking together was cheap, insulting, a pathetic atte

eans. I didn't let go of my seven-year-old brother's hand. Greyson's fingers were icy, gripping the back of my plain shirt

" Hobart said, his voice coated in a false, oily generosity that made my stomach clench with disgust. "Considering your disgrace

y blemishes or scandals. Adopting Emmie Ruiz is far more beneficial for my public image and my lineage. There are five hundred Glowgold coins in

lly a street urchin. And Greyson hasn't even displayed a fraction of his magical core awakening

red his teeth at Hobart like an angry, co

head, a silent command to hold his tempe

younger sister, walked in with an angelic, meticulously practiced smile. She wore the sky-blue trimmed robes of Azure Gale House, t

this so incredibly difficult for Uncle Hobart? He spent all morning talking to the Magical Congress cler

nds toward my forearm as if to offer sisterly comfort. I

through her practiced veneer before she smoothly lowered her arms. She had been thoroughly br

breath on them, Emmie. Once your placement at Azure Gale is finalized, your late mother's entire estate and the contents of t

drawing room, that sound hit like glass shattering on s

na?" Hobart barked, his fa

mie. Do you actually believe he loves you? You are completely blind to the fact that he only adopted you because you are docile, weak, and easily manipulated. You're nothing but

th utter humiliation, her hands trembling with rage. "You... you're just jea

plummeted instantly, frost crawling up the edges of the windows. Emmie gasped, taking a fearful, stumbling step back. I walked toward the heavy ebony desk. I d

he far edge. It hit the floorboards with a violent thud, the drawstring snapping open. The

apex-predator calm. "I will raise Greyson myself. And we won't take a single copper of your filthy bloo

furious red, utterly baffled that I would r

took Greyson's hand, and walked ou

ay, I flicked my fingers subtly by my side, sendi

violent crack echoed from inside, followed instantly by Hobart's sputte

hrough the thick wood. "Your chair just shattere

g rage. "She didn't even take out her Spirit Wand! How could that low-

own the grand stairs, feeling nothing but the

ir hit my face. Greyson looked up at me, his smal

ually wanted," I sai

t. It belonged to Collins Black. I needed a place to

hop for Greyson. I pulled the hood of my oversized sweatshirt lower, blending into the grimy alleyway.

ic lines that didn't belong in this rotting neighborhood, floating three inches above the wet stones without

at fell past his knees, cut from high-grade chimera hide that shed the falling drizzle like liquid mercury. His dark

l thin. He was the supreme commander of the Enforcers, radiating the suffoca

emed to strip away my defenses layer by layer. The sheer density of his magical field brushed ag

t flinch. I stared back, meeting his unseen gaze with a hard, indifferent look of my own, completely immune to his intimidation. Over the past three years in the und

y wrong. Thanks to a passive auditory enhancement charm I always kept active, combined with senses honed to leth

king trace for the Saint Hand went dead right in this sector. But a legend

. His evaluation was swift and condescending. To him, I wa

e workshop and hugged

ssing us completely as a r

unting for a ghost, completely unaware that the very phantom he sought was watching him from the shadows. I trac