Villainess is being pampered by her beast husbands

Chapter 483 --483

Her hands caught a ledge, fingers screaming with the sudden strain. She dangled there, suspended, waiting to see if anyone had noticed.But the celebration continued below, oblivious.

Kaya pulled herself back against the wall, found her footing, and continued down.

When she was close enough, she simply dropped the last six feet, rolling to absorb the impact, coming up in a crouch behind a decorative pillar.

She was in the courtyard. Surrounded by eagle beastmen. Wearing a stolen coat. With no weapons and no clear escape route.

’Brilliant plan, Kaya. Really thought this one through.’

But staying in that room hadn’t been an option. Not after Kael’s visit. Not after his implications about what they wanted from her.

She’d take her chances in the open.

Kaya pulled the coat tighter around herself, raised the collar to partially hide her face, and stepped out from behind the pillar.

She walked calmly, purposefully, like she belonged there. Like she was just another clan member moving through the celebration.

No one looked at her twice.

The courtyard was large, surrounded by cave openings and carved stone structures. She needed to find an exit. A way out of this mountain stronghold. A path back to—

’Veer. Cutie. Damn sparrow.’

She needed to find them. Needed to make sure they were safe. Needed to—

"Excuse me."

Kaya froze.

A female voice, behind her. Polite but questioning.

She turned slowly.

An eagle woman stood there—not Sera, someone else. Young, with curious amber eyes, holding a cup of something that smelled alcoholic.

"I don’t think I’ve seen you before," the woman said, tilting her head. "Are you from the eastern nest?"

Kaya’s mind raced. She needed an answer. Something plausible. Something that would let her walk away without raising alarm.

She opened her mouth to respond—

And that’s when the screaming started.

Someone had found Kael.

All hell broke loose.

The screaming came from above—multiple voices, panicked and urgent, echoing down from the upper levels where Kaya’s luxurious prison had been.

"The Lord! Someone attacked Lord Kael!"

"In his own chambers!"

"Find the human! The female prisoner—she’s gone!"

The effect on the celebration was immediate and dramatic. The music cut off mid-note. Conversations died. Every head turned toward the source of the commotion.

The eagle woman in front of Kaya’s eyes widened. "The prisoner escaped? But how—"

She didn’t get to finish that thought.

Kaya’s fist connected with her jaw—not hard enough to cause serious damage, but enough to send her stumbling backward into a group of other beastmen, spilling drinks and causing confusion.

Then Kaya was running.

She bolted across the courtyard, the stolen coat billowing behind her, making for what looked like a passage leading away from the celebration. Behind her, shouts erupted as people realized what was happening.

"There! The human!"

"Stop her!"

"Someone’s wearing Lord Kael’s coat!"

The passage was narrow, carved through living rock, lit by those same luminescent crystals. Kaya ran full-speed, her boots slapping against polished stone, her lungs already burning.

Behind her, she could hear the sounds of pursuit. Many feet. Many voices. The entire celebration transforming into a hunting party in seconds.

The passage split. Left or right? No time to think. Kaya went right, praying it led toward an exit and not deeper into the mountain.

The Eyrie was a maze.

Passages connected to other passages. Stairways went up and down seemingly at random. Rooms opened into other rooms, some clearly living quarters, others storage, others serving purposes Kaya couldn’t even guess at.

She ran through it all, taking turns at random, trying to put distance between herself and her pursuers.

But they knew this place. She didn’t.

And they were faster.

She could hear them behind her, getting closer. The eagle beastmen were built for speed, even in human form. Their legs were longer, their reflexes sharper.

Kaya burst into a larger chamber—some kind of communal space with pillars and alcoves. She spotted another passage on the far side and made for it.

A figure dropped from above, landing directly in her path.

An eagle warrior, male, tall and powerful, blocking her escape.

"Stop running," he said, not even breathing hard. "You can’t escape. This is our territory. Our mountain."

Kaya didn’t slow down.

As she reached him, she dropped into a slide, passing under his grabbing hands, her momentum carrying her past him. She rolled back to her feet and kept running, leaving him cursing behind her.

The new passage sloped upward. Kaya took the stairs two at a time, her thighs burning with effort.

She emerged into what looked like a guard post—weapons on the walls, a table with maps, and most importantly, a large opening in the stone wall.

Not a window. A launching platform.

Kaya ran to the edge and looked out.

Her stomach dropped.

The platform jutted out from the side of a sheer cliff face. Below, there was nothing but darkness and the faint sound of wind howling through a canyon hundreds—maybe thousands—of feet deep.

The Eyrie was built into the side of a mountain, impossibly high, accessible only by flight.

"Shit," Kaya breathed.

Behind her, footsteps echoed. Many footsteps. Getting closer.

She was trapped.

No way forward. No way back.

Just a platform overlooking a drop that would definitely kill her.

’Think. Think, damn it.’

But what was there to think about? She couldn’t fly. Couldn’t climb down a sheer cliff in the dark. Couldn’t fight her way through an entire clan of eagle beastmen.

The footsteps were almost here.

Kaya looked at the drop again. At the darkness below. At the certain death waiting.

Then she looked at the approaching passage, where torchlight was growing brighter, where voices were shouting orders.

’Death by falling or death by capture.’

’Or worse than death by capture, given what Kael had implied.’

Kaya made her decision.

She stepped up onto the edge of the platform, balancing on the precipice, wind whipping the stolen coat around her.

The first eagle warriors emerged from the passage and stopped dead, seeing her position.

"Don’t," one of them said, holding up his hands. "Don’t do it. You’ll die."

"Maybe," Kaya said. "But at least it’ll be my choice."

"Lord Kael wants you alive!"

"Lord Kael can go to hell."

She saw the warriors tense, preparing to rush her, to grab her before she could jump.

Kaya smiled grimly.

"Tell him Kaya says hello."

And she stepped backward off the platform into empty air.

---

## The Fall

For one endless moment, there was nothing but the sensation of falling.

Wind roared past her ears. Her stomach lurched into her throat. The darkness swallowed her completely.

Kaya kept her body straight, arms at her sides, trying to control the fall somehow even though she knew it was impossible.

This was it. This was how she died. Not in combat. Not fighting. But falling through darkness in a world that wasn’t even hers.

’At least it’s fast,’ she thought distantly. ’Better than whatever Kael had planned.’

Something massive and fast-moving slammed into her from the side.

For a moment, Kaya thought she’d hit the cliff face. But no—this was moving, carrying her, wings beating powerfully.

She was caught. Held in talons that dug into the stolen coat but not through to her skin