Chapter 127: Chapter 128: The Truth Between Them

Elara’s POV

I looked at Lena for a long moment. Her face was still. Her eyes were wet.

“You asked me why,” she had said. “That is why.”

I did not speak. I could not speak. My throat was closed. My chest was heavy. The woman standing in front of me was not the Lena I had known. She was a stranger wearing my best friend’s face.

“Guards,” I called.

The door opened. Two guards stepped inside.

“Take her to her room. Lock the door. She does not leave until I say so.”

Lena did not fight. She did not argue. She walked out between the guards without looking back.

I stood alone in the study.

I found Corvus in the corridor. He was waiting.

“I need to see Kaelen,” I said. “Tonight.”

He looked at me for a moment. His face was still. But I could see him thinking, working through the security concerns, the risks.

“Your Majesty, after everything that has happened–”

“I do not care about the risks. I need to see him. Tonight. Bring him to the palace. Same room as last time.”

He nodded slowly. “I will make the arrangements. ”

“Thank you, Lord Corvus.”

He left. I stood alone in the corridor, my hand on my stomach, my heart pounding.

The room was small. A fire burned low. A single candle on the table. I stood by the window, waiting.

The door opened.

Kaelen stepped inside. His face was worried. His eyes searched the room, then found me. Corvus had done his job. He was here.

“Elara,” he said. “Is everything okay? Is it about the marriage, you asked me to–”

I slapped him.

The sound echoed off the walls. His head snapped to the side. He did not move. He did not raise his hand to his cheek. He just stood there, waiting.

“Lena told me everything,” I said. My voice was shaking. “I set her up with the cook to see if she would take the letter straight to the cook but she took it to Malakor. Remember? I told you about that. So now I know she betrayed me. But I never knew you were included in her reasons.”

Kaelen said nothing.

“All I need from you now is nothing but the truth.”

He nodded. “Ask.”

“Was the assassination attempt on my coronation day your doing?”

“Yes.”

“Were you planning to kill me when you became my guard?”

“Yes.”

“Was the night we met in a coincidence or did you plan it?”

He was quiet for a moment. “It was a coincidence. I did not know you were the one I was supposed to kill. I had come there to think. To breathe. To chill before I finally came to the palace to begin my mission. I did not know the woman who looked lost was the crown princess.”

I stared at him. “I chose you as my personal guard. That was my own mistake. My own stupidity. I saw something in you that night. I trusted you. And you let me.”

“I did.”

I stepped closer. “I am sorry about your father. About what my father did. About the lies Malakor and the others fed him. I know how you must be feeling.”

“No,” Kaelen said. His voice was hard. “You do not.”

“Do not tell me what I do not know. My father was a murderer. He killed his best friend because he believed lies. I have to live with that. I have to carry that. You do not get to tell me I do not know how that feels.”

“You do not know what it is like to watch your father die. You do not know what it is like to watch your mother die of depression afterward. You do not know what it is like to grow up with nothing but revenge in your heart. You do not know what it is like to come to the palace of the man who destroyed your family and pretend to be loyal while planning his daughter’s death.”

“Then tell me.” My voice cracked. “Help me understand.”

He was quiet.

“You need to leave,” I said. “And never come back. I am not interested in marrying you.”

Kaelen stepped closer. “You are not sending me away a second time.”

“What?”

“You heard me. You are not pushing me away. Not again. This time, I am here to stay.”

I opened my mouth to argue. He kept talking.

“Yes, I came for revenge. Yes, I planned to kill you. Yes, I lied to you and let you trust me and let you choose me as your guard. But I fell for you, Elara. I fell for you hard. And I have finally made up my mind.”

“About what?”

“About marrying you. Not because I have any bad intentions. Not because you are carrying my child. Not because of status or politics or any of the reasons you think.” He stepped closer. “Because I love you. Because I want to stand by you. Because I want to fight for you. Because I want to wake up next to you every morning and go to sleep next to you every night. Through thick and thin. Through everything.”

I felt the tears on my cheeks. I did not wipe them away.

“I am sorry,” I whispered. “For what my father did. For what my family did. For everything you have been through.”

He said nothing.

“It will take time,” I said. “For things to go back to how they were. If they ever can.”

He nodded. “I am ready to wait.”

I looked at him. At his face. At the man who had come to kill me and stayed to love me.

“Come back to the palace tomorrow morning,” I said.

He frowned. “Why?”

“We have a marriage to announce.”

Kaelen stared at me. His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. No words came out.

Then he kissed me.

It was not gentle. It was not careful. It was desperate and hungry and full of everything he had been holding back for months. His hands were in my hair. My hands were on his chest. The world disappeared.

He broke the kiss. His breath was heavy. He ran his hands through his hair, looking almost embarrassed.

“So much for ’I am ready to wait,’” I said.

He chuckled. Then he bent down. He pressed his lips to my stomach. Soft. Gentle. His hands rested on my hips.

“I am sorry, Elara,” he said. He stood up. He looked at me. “But I am never letting you go.”

He turned and walked to the door. He paused with his hand on the handle.

“Never,” he said again.

Then he was gone.

I stood alone in the room, my hand on my stomach, my heart pounding, my lips still burning.

“Never,” I whispered to the empty room.

Then I smiled.

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