King Valentin cast a pitying glance at Riona before letting out a heavy sigh and turning to follow Florian’s path. Lady Maris, however, stayed behind. She knelt down and gently extended her hand, offering Riona support to get up.
For a mont, it almost seed as though Lady Maris might embrace her, but instead, she simply took Riona’s hands in hers. They shared a long, wordless look before Lady Maris finally released her grip.
With one last glance, she walked away, her steps swift as she hurried to catch up with Florian.
"What was that?" the ancestor asked, not knowing how to interpret Lady Maris’s intent gaze. "Wait, where are you going?! No, no, turn around! Not that way! Florian went that way!"
The Fallen One urged Riona to chase after Florian and sohow get rid of the demon. Because, of course, that’s totally what she felt like doing right now.
But Riona was absolutely destroyed. Any tiny shred of hope she had left was gone, swallowed up by the emotional wreckage.
Even though she knew the demon had likely ssed with Florian’s head, she couldn’t help but think, Well, so of that stuff had to be true, right? I an, he wouldn’t just spew all lies... right? There had to be at least a grain of truth in there.
"I’m leaving," Riona muttered, knowing full well the ancestor would hear her, even if she whispered it.
"No! Why? This isn’t what we agreed on!" the ancestor wailed, but, unsurprisingly, he couldn’t physically stop her. He didn’t have a body for that. "Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Are you deaf, or just selectively hearing? Did you miss what he just said? Or are you just too busy being a floating voice to notice?" Riona shot back, her tone flat, though inside she was basically a stormcloud of chaos.
She had to get out of the palace. Being there would only remind her of everything that had gone wrong. And now that she knew what she’d done to help Florian had only made things worse, the place felt like a literal dungeon of emotional torture.
"I told you, you can’t take what he said to heart," the ancestor argued, his voice tinged with worry. "He didn’t an it."
By the ti they crossed the gate, Riona’s patience was wearing thin. She turned on him—or the direction of his voice—and growled, "Oh, really? Can you hear his heart, then? Are you a heart whisperer now? Or did you miss his eyes literally screaming everything he said was true?"
The Fallen One let out a long, defeated sigh. He wanted to give her ti to process, to let her work through the ss, but he knew that would only let the demon’s words sink in deeper.
He understood that none of what Florian had said ca from him, but how could he possibly convince Riona of that when she had heard it with her own ears? And Florian had been so... convincing.
"Where are you going, anyway?" the ancestor asked, finally deciding to stop hounding her. She wasn’t going to listen, so why bother?
"I don’t know. Sowhere far. Far from him, like he wants," Riona replied flatly, the sarcasm dripping from her words.
The Fallen One caught the tone, but decided that picking a fight over it wasn’t going to win him any points. Instead, he simply followed her in silence, because, of course, that’s what he did best—being a reluctant shadow in a Blood Moon child’s life.
***
Lady Maris hurried to the gate as soon as she heard that Florian had arrived. She and King Valentin had agreed that it was best to bring him inside, where they could assess the situation and figure out their next move.
The main reason Lady Maris was eager to take him in, however, was driven by hope—a hope that maybe, just maybe, the removal of the seal didn’t affect him. She wondered if Florian could finally live like a normal vampire without it.
After all, he’d spent so much ti with vampires, and Riona had shown him nothing but love. Surely, being surrounded by affection would help Florian suppress the demon on his own, right?
It was a bit of wishful thinking, but Lady Maris clung to it. Yet, the mont she laid eyes on him, she knew her hopes had been in vain. The seal must have been broken.
Though Florian appeared outwardly unchanged, there was sothing else—a dark, unsettling aura that clung to him. He was no longer the boy she had known.
Florian was spiraling. It was clear he was battling the demon inside him, but the struggle seed to consu him.
Most days, he locked himself away in his chamber, as if hiding from the world—and himself. On other days, he would wander aimlessly around the palace, appearing at odd hours in the courtyard or the garden, as if searching for sothing he couldn’t find.
Lady Maris had caught him talking to himself as he walked down the hall, his voice a low murmur lost to the silence of the palace.
Lisbeth had witnessed him in the central garden, violently punching one of the stone pillars in a fit of rage. Florian was slipping further from the person they once knew.
"What do we do about him?" Lady Maris asked, turning to King Valentin.
He was no longer bedridden, but the shadows under his eyes showed how much the situation had drained him. He sat at his desk, scribbling notes with a tired hand as if trying to focus on the work to keep his mind off the chaos unfolding around him.
"My love, I’m responsible for him," Lady Maris said, her voice heavy with guilt. "I kept him alive when Emmanuelle planned to..." she faltered, unable to utter the word. "I’ll bear the burden of saving him."
King Valentin set his quill down and stood, pulling her into his embrace. "No, my dear. Your burden is mine as well. We’ll face this together," he murmured resolutely.
Lady Maris nodded, though a weight still pressed on her chest. "He told he ran away from Wintertooth, and Riona doesn’t know. She’ll co looking for him."
"She doesn’t realize how dangerous he’s beco, especially now that the seal’s been broken," King Valentin murmured, a flicker of concern in his eyes. "She’ll be hurt if she’s around him."
While Lady Maris wrestled with her sense of responsibility, guilt eating at her, King Valentin’s focus was firmly on Riona’s safety. She was very important to him, and he would do anything to protect her.
He knew Riona was strong—she could defend herself well. But if Florian was the enemy, he doubted she would have the heart to fight him.
"We can’t let her be near him," King Valentin declared.
And it worked out in their favor—because, as fate would have it, Florian refused to et with his sister.
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