Chapter 17: The Edge of Her Blade**
Ivy
The mountains of Ashvale were colder than I remembered.
The wind stung my face as I guided Ayra deeper into the caves. My fingers trembled, not from fear—but from the decision I had just made.
No more running.
We'd hide, yes. But if he found us…
I would not bow again.
Ayra deserved a mother who fought.
And Lucien…
He would see the woman he burned rise from the ashes.
"I'm hungry," Ayra whispered.
"I know, baby," I said, brushing her hair. "I'll go look for food soon. Stay warm."
She wrapped her arms around my waist, trusting, innocent. And I hated that she still loved the man who broke me.
A part of me still did, too.
That was the curse.
And the fire.
Lucien.
"She's headed to Ashvale," Ren finally confessed after hours of silence in the dungeon. "It's where her mother died. It's the one place you wouldn't follow."
But I would.
I stood at the edge of the frost-covered bridge days later, staring down into the ravine. Cold fog rose from below. My fingers curled into fists.
"Ivy," I whispered to the wind, "this time I don't come with chains."
I came with guilt.
With blood on my hands.
With the truth in my chest.
I knew what I did to her was unforgivable.
But I would beg.
Bleed.
Burn, if I had to.
For one more chance.
Ivy
The snap of a branch.
My blood ran cold.
I spun around, dagger in hand, heart thundering. "Who's there?"
No one answered.
Ayra sat near the fire, unaware.
And then I heard it.
His voice.
"Ivy."
I froze.
Lucien stood at the mouth of the cave, cloak torn, eyes haunted. He didn't wear a crown. No sword. No armor.
Just him.
And his pain.
"I didn't come to take her," he said, voice rough. "I came to give you something I never did."
I clenched the blade tighter.
"What?"
His eyes shimmered.
"Freedom."
Ivy
The blade trembled in my hand.
Ayra clung to his leg, her small voice shaking. "Mama… don't hurt Papa."
Papa.
I hated the word on her lips.
But Lucien… he didn't flinch. He stared at me, letting the blade press to his chest.
"No guards?" I asked coldly. "No trap? No crown on your head?"
"I came as a man," he said. "Not a king. Not a monster."
My fingers tightened on the hilt.
"And you think that makes it better?"
"No," he whispered. "But it's a start."
Lucien
She was fired again. That beautiful, shaking flame that once burned just for me.
I would take her hatred.
I would take her blade.
Because it was nothing compared to the guilt that clawed through me every night.
"Ivy… I was wrong," I said, my voice cracking.
"You destroyed me," she snapped, tears forming. "You made me beg. You chained me like an animal. And now you show up with soft words like they fix everything?"
I nodded.
"Because I can't change the past. But I'll kneel for the rest of my life if that's what you need."
She didn't lower the blade.
But she didn't drive it in, either.
Ivy
The cave was too quiet.
My breathing is too loud.
And in that silence, I realized I didn't want to kill him.
I wanted to scream. To sob. To collapse into his arms and slap him all at once.
But I couldn't do any of it.
"I don't trust you," I said.
"You don't have to," he answered. "Just let me protect you both."
"From what?" I spat.
He hesitated.
And that was when I knew something was coming.
Worse than war.
Worse than the crown.
"What aren't you telling me, Lucien?"
He stepped closer, voice low.
"Your father's alive."
Cliffhanger:
Lucien reveals that Ivy's father—the man who once tried to kill them all—is not only alive… but hunting Ayra.