The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 417

Chapter 417 Worth Every Drop Of Blood

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Chapter 417 Worth Every Drop Of Blood

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“It’s worth every drop of blood,” Julius said without blinking. “And for the record, she never abandoned me.”

Time and again, when danger closed in around him, Quinn had stayed. She had done so when they were children–and even more fiercely after they grew up.

Gavin scoffed. “She dragged you out of a burning building, yes, but you’d already run into the flames for her. Call it even and be done with the heroics!”

Julius‘ fingers drifted to the sandalwood bracelet on his wrist, thumb brushing the cool jade bead in a familiar, grounding motion.

“Gavin, we can never call it even. The one doing the saving has always been her.”

Gavin’s brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

Julius lowered his gaze. “This life was hers from the moment she gave it back to me. If I spend all of it repaying her, I’ll still fall short.”

Gavin stared, speechless. The rumors were true–when a Whitethorn loved, they loved to madness.

Julius‘ father had been the same–devotion bordering on obsession. Apparently, the legacy had not skipped a generation.

“If you’re willing to die for her,” Gavin muttered, “why have you dodged every attempt she’s made to see you? She’s looked for you more than once.”

Julius‘ eyes narrowed a fraction. “Fabian Wooley told you, didn’t he?”

“Don’t blame him,” Gavin said, his voice low but taut. “He just let it slip. You’ve driven yourself to the brink for Quinn–risked everything while your body is falling apart–yet you still refuse to see her. Tell me, Julius, do you truly not want to be with her?”

“That’s right,” Julius answered, tone hard as winter stone. “I don’t want to be with her. Whatever I’ve done for her is my business alone; she never needs to know.”

Gavin’s shoulders went rigid, fury rippled across his face so quickly the fluorescent light seemed to tremble.

If only I could crack open that stubborn skull and see what kind of madness rattles inside.

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18:03 Mon, Sep 22

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Chapter 417 Worth Every Drop Of Blood

Julius snapped his gaze up. “Gavin! This is between Quinn and me. Stay out of it.”

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The warning landed like a knife. Gavin’s pupils tightened, recognizing the threat coiled beneath Julius‘ calm words.

Can I really stand by while he drags that failing body to the bone–marrow unit?

“Fine,” Gavin said, the words brittle with frost. “I understand.” Turning on his heel, he strode away, coat flaring behind him like an angry banner.

Halfway down the corridor, the resolve crystallized. Whatever Julius claimed, Gavin would find Quinn and learn exactly where her heart stood.

Rowan was now in far–off Celosia, attending to matters only he could handle. In his absence, the visitor’s chair beside Quinn’s bed belonged almost exclusively to Laura and Everett; they appeared more faithfully than the nurses.

Quinn felt no awkwardness with this newly discovered uncle; perhaps blood recognizes blood long before the mind catches up.

Their first encounter had been jagged–his expression cold as the steel trim of a limousine. Yet the man now seated at her bedside seemed transformed: soft–voiced, scholarly, his eyes lingering on her with quiet wonder.

Quinn understood; each time he stared, he was really searching for the faintest echo of his long–lost sister.

“Truth is, I never looked much like Mom,” Quinn said, fingers tracing the hospital blanket. “Rowan looks like her; I’m more of Dad’s reflection.”

“But the way you smile,” Everett murmured, warmth tugging at his voice, “is exactly how Yara used to grin when she was little.”

In quiet hours, Quinn painted Yara with small, ordinary colors–stories no dossier could capture. She spoke of lopsided sweaters knitted with love, parent–teacher nights ending in threatened switchings, and a carnival visit where their mother outshot her and her brother and laughed until her eyes watered.

None of this lay in the investigative file Everett had commissioned; paper, after all, rarely records the sound of laughter.

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