?Chapter 834:


    A bitterugh rumbled from Father’s throat, as if he’d heard a fool’s jest. “The white wolf n breeds nothing but treachery!”


    I raised my head, meeting Father’s gaze with steel in my own.


    Time was when I’d looked upon him with a child’s worship, seeing an unshakeable mountain of power and justice.


    Now, with truth’s bitter taste on my tongue, that reverencey in ruins.


    “Tell me, Father, do you hunt Makenna so desperately to interrogate her for her so-called treachery, or because you fear what light she might shed on your secrets?” My words cut like winter’s breath.


    “You ungrateful wretch!” Rage transformed him as his hand cracked across my face.


    The strike echoed through the hall like thunder, my cheek zing, ears ringing with the force. “You dare stand before me and speak such defiance?”


    White-hot indignation surged through my veins, a retort burning on my tongue—when running footsteps interrupted the confrontation.


    A guard burst in, copsing to his knees with panic etched across his features. “Your Majesty! Makenna’s vehicle—it’s plunged from the cliffs into the churning seas below!”


    Makenna’s POV:


    The merciless ocean consumed me whole, its savage waters invading my lungs as consciousness slipped through my fingers like grains of sand. My mind screamed for escape from this watery prison, but my eyes remained sealed, strength ebbing away with each passing moment.


    When surrender seemed inevitable, a beacon of hope pierced the darkness—that treasured voice that had always been my anchor in life. “Makenna, my dear daughter, wake up, don’t sleep…”


    This voice was my guiding star. It had emerged countless times when darkness threatened to swallow me whole, a lighthouse in my stormy seas. Even during my pregnancy’s darkest hour, it had appeared like a guardian angel, chasing away my agony. Yet since that day, this voice had never appeared again.


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    Its persistent call slowly pulled me back from the abyss.


    My eyes snapped open, immediately assaulted by harsh sunlight as the tang of salt air filled my lungs. I found myself sprawled on the water-kissed shore, every fiber of my being screaming in protest as if I’d been thrown against rocks repeatedly.


    The horror movie of recent events crashed through my mind like a tidal wave, jolting me to full awareness. Jett and I had plummeted from the cliff together, but where was he?


    “Jett! Jett!” My desperate cries were swallowed by the howling wind, mocking my growing panic.


    Then I spotted him—a still figure lying nearby, showing no signs of life.


    Fighting through waves of pain, I dragged myself to his side. The faint rise and fall of his chest drew a relieved sob from my throat as I gently tried to rouse him. “Jett, Jett! Wake up!”


    My voice seemed to reach him through the fog. His eyelids fluttered like butterfly wings before cracking open, confusion clouding his gaze.


    He surveyed our surroundings through bleary eyes and whispered hoarsely, “Where… where are we?”


    I swept my gaze across the deste shore, my voice thick with uncertainty.


    “I don’t know either. We seem to have been washed up on some coastal ind.”


    Through the hazy distance, shadowy structures emerged against the horizon—the telltale silhouettes of civilization. My heart leaped at the sight.


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