My Greate Husband 144_Mated and Hated by My Brother’s Best Friend

Chapter 144 

 Chapter 144 

 The morning air was thick with anticipation, the kind that clung to your skin and whispered of impending storms. I stood at the edge of the encampment, eyes fixed on the horizon where the first light of dawn painted the sky in hues of crimson and gold. The scouts had returned with grim faces and grimmer news: the Gatekeepers were a day out, their numbers double what we had anticipated.

 Bastain’smand tent buzzed with activity. Maps were unfurled, strategies debated, and contingencies drafted. But amidst the chaos, my mind was elsewhere, drawn to the ancient texts that Bastain had meticulously collected over the years. If there was ever a time to seek wisdom from the past, it

 was now, 

 I slipped away unnoticed, making my way to Bastain’s archive–a modest tent lined with shelves of weathered tomes and scrolls. The scent of aged parchment and ink greeted me, aforting aroma that momentarily eased the tension knotting my shoulders.

 My fingers traced the spines of the books, searching for something–anything–that could offer insight into the Gatekeepers or the Veil. One volume caught my eye: a leather–bound book sealed with a wax emblem I didn’t recognize. Curiosity piqued, I broke the seal and opened it.

 The pages were filled with elegant script, the ink faded but legible. It was a journal, penned by a Veilborn woman named Elira. Her entries spoke of visions—prophecies she imed were bestowed upon her by the Veil itself.

 “I see a girl of violet fire,” one passage read, “her mes consuming the sky, her scream the death knell of time itself.”

 My heart pounded as I read on. Elira described a future where this girl stood at the precipice of the world’s end, her choices determining the fate of all. The imagery was hauntingly vivid, echoing the power I had witnessed in Jiselle.

 As I neared the journal’s end, a final line sent a chill down my spine:

 “And beside her, two men burned–one by love, one by loyalty.”

 The book slipped from my hands,nding with a soft thud on the ground. The weight of the prophecy settled over me, heavy and suffocating. I knew, without a doubt, that the girl of violet fire was Jiselle. And the two men? Nate and Max.

 I rushed back to Bastain’s tent, the journal clutched tightly in

 “I found something,” I said, breathless. “A prophecy. Aby hands. He looked up as I entered, concern etched into his features.

 Jiselle.”

 He took the journal from me, his eyes scanning the pages. As he read, his expression grew

 darker.

 “This changes everything,” he murmured.

 Outside, the wind howled, carrying with it the scent of smoke and the promise of war. The Gatekeepers wereing, and with them, the fulfillment of a prophecy that could end us all.

 Jiselle

 The wind had changed again.

 It didn’t smell like danger this time. Not smoke. Not blood. Just cold. The kind of cold that settled behind your ribs and whispered promises it didn’t

 mean to keep. I stood at the edge of the cliff where the leyline split the mountain beneath our feet, my hands curled around the rough edge of my shawl. Somewhere behind me, the others were packing. Preparing.

 But I couldn’t move.

 Not yet.

 1/5 

 Chapter 144 

 Not when Eva had <be to me that morning with the book still clutched in her shaking hands. Not when her voice had trembled around the words men burned–one by love, one by loyalty.”

 I hadn’t asked wh?.

 I didn’t need to.

 Because I already knew.

 The day had bloomed pale and cloudless, but inside me, a storm churned. Not the kind that threatened to consume. This one was quieter, steadier. A gathering of weight beneath my sternum, as though the gate inside me had grown another hinge. I could feel it now–the pull of the leylines all around, like threads stitching me to the world. Violet light curled beneath my skin, soft and patient, humming like a heartbeat I hadn’t yet acknowledged.

 Nate’s scent reached me first. Earth. Smoke. Home.

 He didn’t say anything as he stepped beside me, just let our shoulders brush, let our silences tangle.

 “Eva told you?” I asked eventually.

 He nodded. “She didn’t have to. I felt the shift in you.” 

 I exhaled slowly. “I don’t want either of you to burn.” 

 “Then don’t let us.”

 “It might not be up to me,” I whispered. “The prophecy said…”

 “The prophecy can go to hell.”

 He turned fully then, and his hand found mine, grounding me. Steadying me like only he could.

 “You’re not bound to the words of the dead,” he said. “You write your own fire now.”

 I stared down at our joined fingers. His skin was warm. Alive. Real.

 But the future–whatever waited on the other side of the Gatekeepers‘ approach–was not.

 The violet me inside me stirred again, and this time it didn’tsh or rage. It whispered. Not like Eira. Not like Serina. Just… me. The voice I used to hush at night, the one I’d spent so long denying. It spoke now with rity and calm.

 I stepped back from the cliff and turned toward the encampment.

 “I need to speak to Bastain,” I said.

 Nate followed.

 The book sat between us like it might bite.

 Bastain’s expression was unreadable, the fingers of one hand tapping against the spine. Eva lingered by the p of the tent, arms crossed tightly. Max stood just outside in the shadow of the entrance, his back turned, but I could feel his attention like a thread pulled taut.

 “She saw you,” Bastain said eventually, tapping the cover. “Or someone who bore the same fire. She called her the End–Singer. The one who closes the realm to prevent the Fall.”

 “And the men?” I asked.

 He looked up. “It wasn’t clear. Only that they burned.”

 11:11 Sat, 31 May Gu

 “For me?”

 “Because of you.”

 My stomach twisted.

 Eva stepped closer. “She described the mes as different. One wrapped in devotion. The other in sacrifice.”

 I didn’t look at Nate.

 I couldn’t.

 Because whatever lived in this book, whatever ancient fate had whispered these words into a dying Veilborn’s hand… it had seen something we hadn’t,

 “Does it say how?” I asked.

 “No,” Bastain said. “Only that it happens before the gate seals. And only one person walks away.”

 The tent fell into a hush.

 Then Max stepped inside. “We need to move.”

 “Why?” Nate asked.

 “The Gatekeepers have doubled patrols,” he said. “They’re sweeping the outer ridges. And they’re leaving symbols.”

 “What kind?” Bastain asked.

 Max held up a piece of parchment, and my breath caught. The symbol was familiar. A ring. Violet ink shaped into a spiral of teeth.

 “It’s a summoning rune,” I said.

 Bastain’s brow furrowed. “Summoning what?”

 “I don’t know,” I admitted. “But it feels… wrong. It hums the way a dying leyline does. Whatever they’re trying to call–it isn’t from here.”

 Eva reached forward and traced the edge of the rune. “They’re calling something through the gate, aren’t they?”

 “Or from it,” Nate said.

 I shook my head. “If they’re tampering with the seal–if they’re trying to force it open–then they’re not here for bnce. They’re here for power.”

 “Then we face them before they finish whatever this is,” Max said. “And we finish it first,”

 But no one spoke for a long moment.

 Because we knew.

 We weren’t just fighting men anymore.

 We were fighting belief.

 Night came fast. As it always did when you least wanted it. I stood by the fire while the others made preparations. Ethan hadn’t spoken since thest meeting, and Eva had taken up vigil nearby, her eyes darting between the me and the mountains like she could predict what woulde with dawn.

 I sat alone by the logs, the sealed book open in myp.

 3/5 

 Sat 31 May 

 Thest page was still nk. No ink moved. No more warnings appeared.

 But the silence was louder than any sentence.

 “Hey,” a voice murmured.

 Hooked up. Nate crouched beside me, his brows drawn tight.

 “I need to tell you something,” he said.

 My heart stumbled. “What is it?”

 He hesitated. “Earlier today, when you copsed… something happened to the bond.”

 “What do you mean?”

 “It didn’t break. It didn’t stretch. It… evolved. I could feel the leyline breathing through you. And for a second, I wasn’t sure where you ended and I began.”

 My mouth went dry.

 “That’s not just power, Jiselle. That’s fusion.”

 I closed the book slowly.

 “You think the bond is… feeding me?”

 “I think it’s bing something else. And I don’t know what that means. But I’m not afraid of it.”

 I stood, the cold licking my spine. The wind carried a new scent now. Not fire.

 Ash.

 Not mine.

 Theirs.

 “They’reing,” I said.

 Nate stood beside me. “Then we meet them.”

 I turned to the group as they gathered around the fire.

 And for the first time, I didn’t speak as a girl who had been chosen. Or hunted. Or forged.

 I spoke as myself.

 As me.

 As future.

 “They want an audience?” I said. “Then we give it to them.”

 And behind me, in the dark beyond the ridge, a line of torches lit the horizon.

 The Gatekeepers had arrived.

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My Greate Husband 144