The record room was still.
Not burned—but broken. Scrolls lay strewn across the floor, shelves toppled or split from the divine clash. The shattered window let in the cool night air, stirring loose parchment and settling ash. The aftermath of a battle.
Prince Leo stood amid the wreckage, silent. His gaze lingered on Bella, who now lay unconscious, her body bound in enchanted chains. Her severed arm was gone—burned away by Aleryn's holy blade—but the bleeding had stopped. A web of golden light still flickered faintly over the wound, Aleryn's healing having saved her life but not her limb.
She would survive.
"Take her to the lower dungeons," Leo ordered, his voice cold. "Double the guards there. No one enters without my seal."
The guards moved immediately, lifting her without any fuss.
Aleryn dusted off his gauntlets and turned to follow them.
"You're not authorized to escort prisoners," Leo said sharply.
Aleryn didn't stop walking. "She's dangerous. What if she wakes up and breaks someone's neck?"
"She's missing an arm."
"She's still Bella."
Leo narrowed his eyes. "You're just avoiding the consequences of interfering."
Aleryn raised a hand lazily as he walked off. "Correct."
Everyone knew the truth. He didn't want to stick around for another lecture. So he left, whistling quietly as he followed the guards and their half-conscious prisoner down the corridor.
Now only Rowan, Leo, and Lekan remained.
The silence was thick.
Leo turned to Lekan. "Speak. Everything."
Lekan did.
He told the whole story—from the overheard whisper in the palace grounds to the moment Bella drove the blade into him. How she betrayed him. How she smiled when she did it. His voice was calm, but his face showed something far colder than sadness.
It wasn't heartbreak in his eyes. It was simmering rage.
When he finished, the silence lingered.
Leo stepped forward. "You should've come to me the moment you heard those guards."
Lekan looked down. "Bella said not to tell anyone. She said if word got out, the traitors might vanish."
"She's not your master," Leo snapped. "I am."
Lekan flinched but nodded.
Leo continued, "If you'd meant to betray me, the contract would've punished you. You'd have collapsed in agony the moment you acted against my interest. That didn't happen. So I know you weren't acting in malice."
Still, his tone didn't soften.
"I'll overlook it. Once. But from now on, you report everything. Immediately. Understood?"
"Yes, Prince."
"Good." Leo glanced toward the hall where the guards had taken Bella. "Tomorrow, I'll interrogate her personally."
There was a pause before Lekan spoke.
"Can I assist?"
Leo turned slowly. "Assist?"
"I've been learning healing magic. I can keep her alive while you question her."
Leo raised an eyebrow. "Aleryn can heal her."
Lekan's reply was quiet. "It'll help me practice. Healing others. As part of my training."
Leo studied him. There was something too controlled in Lekan's voice. Too calm.
"You want her to feel the pain you felt."
Lekan didn't deny it.
After a long pause, Leo nodded once. "Fine. You'll assist. But only heal. No speaking unless I allow it. No acting unless I command it."
"I understand."
Leo added, almost as an afterthought, "And don't worry. She won't die."
He looked away, eyes narrowing. "Not for a while. I have plans for her."
He turned sharply, signaling the end of the conversation. "You're dismissed. The south wing is sealed until further notice."
Lekan bowed and turned to leave. As he walked toward the door, he glanced back once.
Just a flicker—but it was enough.
Leo's expression, so guarded, so composed, had finally cracked. There, beneath the anger and command, was something else:
Grief.
The quiet kind. The kind that comes when someone you trusted throws it away.
Lekan said nothing.
He walked.
Rowan fell in step beside him, silent. He didn't speak, but he didn't need to. The tension in his shoulders and the way he kept glancing at Lekan said enough.
He was worried.
Something had changed in the boy.
And he only hoped that change would lead him forward—not into darkness.
When they reached his room, Rowan gave a short nod. "Get some rest."
"I will."
Lekan stepped inside and shut the door. The moment the door closed, silence fell around him like a second skin.
He stripped out of his bloodstained clothes. His body still ached from the battle.
He slid into bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.
Why did I ask to be there tomorrow?
He already knew the answer.
Because she tried to kill me.
Because she made me feel helpless.
Because I want her to feel it, too.
He closed his eyes.
And when sleep finally took him, it came not as peace…
…but as fuel for the fire still burning in his chest.