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SOREN POV
The door slammed behind the Queen. The echo rolled through the steel corridors like thunder trapped in a tunnel.
I stood there—frozen—watching the monitors flicker in red and gold as the King stood alone in the command hall.
He wasn't shouting anymore.
He was breathing, hard and ragged, like every exhale carried the weight of an empire.
Mara stood beside me, shaken but silent.
"Don't," I whispered when she tried to step forward. "Not now. He's in that place again."
Chris Blackwood—the man I've followed through fire and rebellion—wasn't just angry.
He was haunted.
He stared at the map on the holo-table, fingers twitching like he wanted to crush the whole world in his palm.
I took a slow step forward.
"My lord…"
He didn't respond. Just kept staring at the blinking dots—cities, territories, command bases—all lit in crimson under the lockdown protocol.
Then suddenly—bang!
He threw the entire console over. Sparks flew. The room plunged into half-darkness.
"Do you see this, Soren?" he growled.
His voice wasn't the King's anymore. It was something deeper. Broken.
"I gave them peace. Wealth. Security. And still, they think I'm the villain!"
I clenched my jaw.
"My lord—no one questions your rule. They only—"
"They question everything!" he barked, spinning around.
"That Queen you all worship—do you think she understands what it costs to hold this power?"
His eyes—burning, bloodshot, lost—met mine.
"She wants mercy. I want order. One of us has to win, Soren. And mercy never wins."
He paced, faster now.
Every word was a strike, every breath a spark.
I'd seen him rage before—on the battlefield, against traitors, against death itself.
But this…
This was a war inside his own soul.
Then he stopped suddenly.
Looked at me.
Cold. Calculated.
"Reinforce every gate," he ordered.
"No one leaves the palace. Not even her."
I hesitated. "Sir—Her Majesty—"
"Especially her."
The words felt like knives.
And for the first time in my life, I wanted to refuse an order.
But I couldn't.
I'm the Commander of BAM. My loyalty is the King's will, not his emotions.
Still…
Watching him now, I knew the man in front of me wasn't just angry at the Queen—he was terrified of losing her.
Because Chris Blackwood doesn't know how to love gently.
He only knows how to possess completely.
When he finally turned away from me, muttering something under his breath, I caught it—
barely audible—
like a confession meant for no one.
"Why can't she just obey… so I can protect her?"
Then he walked into the shadows of the command corridor. Alone.
I exhaled slowly. Looked at Mara.
"He's spiraling," I said quietly. "And if the Queen doesn't reach him soon… the King we know might never come back."
The alarms continued to pulse, faint and rhythmic.
Outside, the empire slept under curfew—
but inside the fortress, its ruler was at war with himself.
— To be continued…