Free Web NovelChapter 30: Chapter 30: The Ashes of What Could Have Been
Riegthar POV
The heavy doors slammed shut behind Ryophlira and me, cutting off the suffocating weight of our mother’s presence. We bolted down the stone corridor, our hurried steps echoing against the cold floors. Just ahead, standing beneath the massive, gilded frame of the family portrait, was Ari. She looked frantic, her fingers tightly clutching her white-ruffled apron, but the moment she saw us break free, she rushed forward straight toward my sister.
"Let’s get you back to your room, my lady," Ari whispered, her voice a desperate plea to escape.
"Wait," I interrupted, stepping in front of them and letting blocking the path. My eyes locked onto Ari, a familiar, aching tightness seizing my chest. "Ry, do you mind if I borrow Ari for a few moments?"
Ryophlira stopped, looking between the two of us, her brows drawing together in sharp irritation. "Don’t take too long. I hate being around the other maids by myself."
"Promise I will not be too long," I said softly.
Ryophlira let out a low hiss, yanking at the torn, heavy gold lace of her dress and cursing under her breath as usual as she turned the corner. The moment she was out of sight, I reached out and took Ari’s hand. Her skin was freezing. Without a word, I led her swiftly down the residential wing and into the privacy of my personal chambers.
Once the door clicked shut, sealing us away from all the eyes in the palace, I turned around to look at her.
Standing there in the dim, amber glow of my hearth, Ari was an absolute vision of quiet devastation, At twenty-six, she possessed a delicate, haunting allure that completely arrested my senses, making the two-year gap between us melt into nothingness. Her frame was small, standing at a fragile 5’5", forcing her to tilt her head up to meet my gaze. A wild, cascading halo of ink-black hair fell over her shoulders, the dark strands framing a face of porcelain perfection dusted with faint, delicate freckles. Beneath a white lace headpiece, her eyes two striking, luminous pools of glassy cerulean blue stared at me with a mixture of profound sorrow and guarded distance. The stark contrast of her black-and-white maid’s uniform against her pale skin didn’t mask her grace, it merely emphasized how a creature of such rare, breathtaking gravity had been forced into the shadows of a servant’s life.
"How have you been, Ari?" I asked, my voice dropping the heavy armor of a crown prince, turning soft and entirely vulnerable.
Ari immediately dropped her gaze to the floor, her posture freezing into formality. "I am great, my lord. Thank you for concerning yourself over such a low servant as myself."
"Ari, please. You can relax," I groaned, taking a step toward her. "No one is here. And I don’t have any plants in this room, so my sister doesn’t have any eyes here either. We are safe."
"Why am I here, my lord?" she asked, her blue eyes flickering up, guarded and cold.
"Ari, relax." I walked over, my heart hammering against my ribs as I reached out to touch her shoulder.
The moment my fingers brushed her sleeve, she flinched and pulled away, stumbling back a step.
"Can we please stop this?" I pleaded, a breathless, aching desperation tearing through my chest. I stared at her, the longing I had suppressed for months finally breaking the surface. I have spent every waking hour consumed by the memory of you. The court, the politics, the endless demands of the crown mean absolutely nothing when my soul is entirely starved of your presence. I have missed you, Ari. I have yearned for you in a way that makes every royal duty feel like a sentence in hell.
"We cannot be together, Riegthar," she whispered, her voice cracking as she used my true name, shattering the wall between us. She looked up at me, her blue eyes shining with unshed tears. "You are to wed the daughter of the East."
"That might not happen," I said, taking another step forward. "With the silence that the East has been given since Ry getting married to the North... and with Mother killing one of their sons... the alliance is fractured."
Ari gasped, her pale hand flying to her mouth. "What are you saying?"
"I am saying... there might be a way for us to finally be together. To have our family."
My gaze dropped to her belly, my heart swelling with a sudden, wild hope. I reached my large hand out, intending to gently press my palm against her belly, dreaming of the secret life we had created in the dark.
But Ari didn’t lean into my touch. She took a sharp, horrified step backward, her back hitting the edge of my bookshelf.
"That’s not possible," she choked out, a cold, devastating tear finally escaping her eye and rolling down her freckled cheek. "The baby is gone."
The world entirely stopped. The air left my lungs as if I had been struck by a sword. A heavy, suffocating sadness crashed over me, paralyzing my limbs. "What... what do you mean, gone?"
"Your mother found out," Ari whispered, her shoulders shaking as she gripped her apron. "She had the head doctor terminate the baby weeks ago."
"Why didn’t you tell me?!" I yelled.
The roar erupted from my throat before I could stop it, fueled by absolute, unhinged grief. Ari instantly flinched, her eyes widening in fear, and the sight of her terror broke my heart into a million pieces.
"I am sorry," I choked out, my voice dropping into a broken, ragged whisper as I stepped into her space. "I am so sorry... but why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you tell me, Ari?!"
"How could I?!" she shrieked back, her grief finally matching my own, her blue eyes blazing through her tears. "You were hardly ever around! You were locked away in strategy meetings, preparing to marry someone else! I was a servant alone in the dark. I had no power to stop the Queen!"
The agony in her voice was too much to bear. I closed the distance between us, throwing my long arms around her and pulling her violently against my chest. Ari gasped, her small hands instantly slamming into my shoulders, pushing against me with everything she had, trying to fight out of my embrace. But I refused to let her go. I held her with a desperate anchoring her to my chest until her resistance finally shattered. Her hands slid from my shoulders, her fingers bunching into the fabric of my jacket as she buried her face into my chest, weeping as she finally embraced me back.
"I am so sorry you had to go through that alone," I murmured into her dark hair, tears burning my own eyes. "I am so incredibly sorry I was never there to stop it... to protect you and our child. But I am here now, Ari. I am here."
Slowly, I pulled back just enough to look down into her face, my hands cupping her cheeks.
"It’s too late, Riegthar," Ari whispered, her blue eyes staring into mine with a profound, dead emptiness that terrified me. "Our love died with our baby. You need to focus on the kingdom now. You need to focus on the war at hand, and on Ryophlira."
She placed her hands over mine, gently but firmly pulling my palms away from her face. "I have to go."
She turned toward the door, but a dark panic seized me. I reached out, grabbing her by one hand, refusing to let the final thread snap. "Our love didn’t die, Ari! I never even had a chance to say goodbye to what we lost!"
Ari paused, her back to me, her fingers trembling in my grip. She slowly turned her head, looking at me over her shoulder with a gaze that cut deeper than any blade.
"You lost that chance the exact moment you decided to become the next king," she said softly.
With a sharp, decisive pull, she yanked her hand completely out of my grip. She reached out and threw the heavy door open, stepping out into the corridor to walk away forever.
Losing my mind to the thought of her disappearing into the shadows again, I charged forward. I caught her just outside the threshold, my hand locking onto her shoulder. I gently spun her around, backing her against the stone wall of the corridor. Before she could utter a single protest, I cupped her face with both hands, leaned down, and pressed my lips against hers.
It was a gentle, deeply passionate, breathless kiss a desperate attempt to pour every ounce of my love, my grief, and my soul into her lips, begging her to remember what we used to be.
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A sharp click of heels froze the blood in my veins.
"Both of you better start talking."
My head snapped around. Ryophlira was standing right at the corner of the corridor, her eyes wide with a mixture of absolute shock, fury, and confusion as she looked at her brother and her personal blood mage locked in a breathless embrace. She marched forward, her heavy skirts rustling as she forcefully shoved herself between us, pushing us apart with her full strength.
She looked between my unbuttoned uniform and Ari’s tear-stained face, her expression turning terrifyingly murderous.
"Right now," Ryophlira demanded, her power hum dangerously around her fingers. "Start talking."
