"My lady, my Lord is back! Stop playing gas with us!" Stella cried as she held Lumina’s arms tightly, trying to shake her out of the terrified blankness she had been showing since she woke. Stella’s voice cracked as she tried to force Lumina to look at Ashen, but Adam shoved her backward with a harsh push that sent her stumbling.
"She can’t recall any of you," Adam barked. "So get the hell out of this place! Before I lose the last patience I have for you."
Ashen’s steps echoed across the room as he moved forward, each step slow but heavy enough to make the walls seem to tighten around them. His breathing was unsteady, his aura burning hotter with every inch he closed between them.
"Lumina," he called.
The sound of his voice was painful. Lumina lifted her head slightly at the familiar call, but her face stayed confused, searching the air blindly.
Her brows knitted like she was trying to grasp sothing just beyond reach.Ashen felt sothing break inside him.
He had waited—prayed—for her to sense him.
For her to turn her head in recognition. For her to rember him before anyone else.
But the blankness in her expression stabbed him deeper than any blade.
"Stay away from her!" Adam shouted, but even his voice wavered.
Ashen turned his head toward him, slowly, and the quiet fury in that look made every person in the room stiffen. Even Alexis shifted back a step.
Adam tried to move, but Lumina grabbed his hand suddenly. Her grip shook, but she held onto him tightly.
"You can’t leave," she whispered. "I... I don’t know them. You can’t leave with them."
Adam smirked at Ashen, squeezing her fingers lightly. "You heard her. She wants to stay with her. She doesn’t know who you are."
That was it.
In the blink of an eye, Ashen’s hand was around Adam’s neck, lifting him off the ground like he weighed nothing. Adam choked, fingers clawing at Ashen’s wrist as his face reddened.
"I swear," Ashen hissed, voice shaking with rage, "if you do not shut your mouth, I will rip it off."
"ASHEN!" Alexis scread. "He is your older brother! Get your hands off him!"
But a blast of scorching heat burst from Ashen’s body, slamming into Alexis with force. Alexis skid back several feet, barely staying upright.
"You dare touch my wife?" Ashen roared.
Adam gasped, struggling, his feet kicking wildly as he tried to break free. Ashen twisted his arm sharply, forcing him down to one knee, bending it backward while Adam scread.
"What is wrong with you?!" Alexis shouted, voice rising. But Ashen did not even spare him a glance.
"Let deal with him first," Ashen said darkly. "Then we talk."
"STOP HURTING HIM!" Lumina cried from the bed, struggling to stand. Her voice cracked with desperation, making Stella freeze for a mont.
Stella reached for her. "My lady, please calm down... you are not in support of him."
"Don’t touch him!" Lumina scread, thrashing so hard that Stella had to hold her from falling face-first off the bed.
Adam smirked again through the pain. "You see? She wants you to let go."
Ashen slamd his foot into Adam’s stomach, kicking him across the room. Adam crashed into a wooden chest, coughing blood.
With shaking hands Adam gathered fire and hurled it directly at Ashen. The fla burst across Ashen’s chest, but he walked through it like it was nothing. His aura swallowed the flas whole.
"You think you can fight ?" Adam threw another blast, another and another.
Ashen swept each one away with a single motion. Alexis stepped forward again.
"Enough! Ashen, stop this insanity! Try to control your temper!"
Ashen turned toward him with a glare that burned like open fla. Alexis froze instantly, he could tell his little brother’s look ant he shouldn’t butt in.
Adam tried again, firing a larger blast, aiming for Ashen’s face. Ashen raised his hand, palm open, and crushed the fire mid-air. The flas shattered like glass.
He then gathered his own fire a massive one, so bright it lit the entire room red. Adam’s eyes widened as the blast built up, trembling with deadly force.
Before Ashen released it, another surge of fire shot through the doorway and hit Ashen’s arm.
Queen Sephora staggered inside, supported weakly by her handmaiden. Her breath ca heavy, beads of sweat sliding down her temples. Fear painted her face in a way no one had ever seen before.
"Ashen... stop..." she whispered.Ashen glared at her, again and again it’s obvious his mother will never choose him not for once and he was done trying to be the best son.
His voice was colder than ice, he told his mum.
"Then warn your son carefully. Aside from the two won he has, I do not want to ever see his fingers near my woman." Sephora coughed, voice trembling. "You.. What? Adam is what he is saying the truth."
"It isn’t my fault she can’t recognize you," Adam snapped, rubbing his aching neck. "She only knows ."
Ashen turned his head with that warning glare, "Say that again."
Adam swallowed his breath, lips sealing shut instantly.
Ashen looked away from him and stepped toward Lumina. Her body stiffened as he approached, and the mont he touched her hand, she jerked violently away.
"Adam..." she whispered, voice shaking and Ashen froze.
Then he seized her by the neck, pulling her away from the bed.
"Say that na one more ti," he murmured, voice trembling not with anger this ti, but heartbreak. "I will make you regret it."
Lumina tried to push him away, tears spilling down her cheek. "Let go! I don’t want you, I don’t even know you... I only want Adam!"
She nearly fell but Ashen grabbed her waist, keeping her upright, he pulled her from the bed fully throing her ok his shoulder.
"Relx right there an don’t struggle then everything would go smoothly.
"Ashen... wait," Alexis breathed as he approached.
Ashen turned his head slightly. The fire in his eyes was blinding.
"Yes, Alexis," he said, "we have a lot to discuss. Like how you allowed my wife to be attacked in the first place. I will be back for you."
He carried Lumina out, ignoring her kicks, her cries, her fists hitting his chest. The palace walls trembled under his aura as he made his way back to his chamber.
His jaw tightened when he entered the outer chamber. It was spotless. Too spotless.
"Where is everyone?" he asked sharply.
Aria stepped forward from the shadows, her head bowed. "My lord... a massacre happened while you were gone. Many died. I cleaned everything. And the one responsible... I caught him."
Ashen nodded tightly, but Lumina’s struggling demanded his attention imdiately.
He carried her to the inner chamber and threw her onto the bed.
"What is wrong with you?!" she scread. "Let go! I don’t—"
Ashen pinned her to the wall with one hand around her neck. His breathing was heavy. His eyes wet with anger.
"Don’t test , Lumina," he said. "I leave for eight days... and you forget already?"
She stared at him fiercely. "Maybe you’re not important. I lost my mory. I don’t rember you."
His face fell. His hand trembled at her throat.
"That’s a lie," he whispered, voice cracking. "I don’t believe that."
She pushed him away, but he dragged her back and kissed her hard. She fought him, pushing on his chest, smacking his shoulders.
"Let go of !"
He stopped. Shock moved across his face.
"You... fought back against ?" His voice shook. "You never fight ..."
"Don’t touch !" she cried, slapping him hard across the face.
He froze completely.
Silent.
Hurt.
Shattered.
Lumina hit him again, on the chest. Tears stread down her face. She grabbed his hand and bit him hard, teeth sinking in until he hissed.
And then... he laughed.
A broken, choked, painful laugh.
"I knew it," he whispered. "You are pretending. You stubborn... difficult... wicked woman. You are pretending."
Lumina stopped struggling. Her breath shook. Her fingers trembled.
Ashen pulled her tightly against his chest, burying his face in her shoulder.
"I know you too well," he whispered. "You only act like this when you are angry. When you feel betrayed. When you are playing one of your insane gas."
Her walls crumbled and tears poured silently.
"You left ," she whispered. "You left for your brother to hurt . I had to trick them. I had to survive."
Ashen exhaled shakily and held her tighter, so tight she could barely breathe.
"Never do that to again," he whispered. "Never make that terrified again."
Lumina’s fingers curled weakly into his robe. "I’m sorry..."
Ashen pulled her closer, voice breaking. "No more secrets. No more lies. No more hiding. From now on... everything together."
Lumina nodded, exhausted, finally softening in his arms.
Ashen pressed his cheek against her hair.
"Never make live through that fear again," he murmured.
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