The mont my feet touched the soil of my world again, I felt it—raw, ruptured magic rippling beneath the surface like a wounded heartbeat.
The portal slamd shut behind us with a thundering crack, its last wisps of light vanishing into the dark sky. We were back.
Ash choked the air. The ground reeked of death and scorched stone. The wind howled as if mourning what once thrived here. My once-sacred land was a graveyard.
I stepped forward slowly, my boots sinking slightly into soft, broken earth. The trees were skeletal, the sky a bruised gray. The palace walls stood in the distance—half-collapsed, black vines crawling up its cracked spires like claws clinging to a corpse.
Lucas stepped beside , silent.
I couldn’t look at him.
I didn’t want to.
Not after everything.
Not after I gave him my trust—my body—and he still lied.
Still hid.
Still betrayed.
I turned to him, barely able to keep my hands from trembling. Not from fear. From fury.
"You knew," I said, my voice sharp and cold, even though my heart ached.
"Like I said earlier, I really was trying to protect you."
"Protect ?" I laughed—a bitter, hollow sound. "By keeping in the dark continuously? By dragging away before I could fix what they broke?"
"I had no choice—"
"You always have a choice!" I snapped, stepping closer to him. "You had a choice the day you made that deal. You have a choice to tell the truth right now."
His face twisted in pain, jaw clenched. "You don’t understand—"
"No," I hissed. "You don’t get to speak."
Lira ca out from behind and stepped forward. I didn’t know how long she had been there for... I didn’t notice her presence. Her expression was stricken, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. "Athena, please... don’t do this."
I looked at her, and my chest tightened with sothing sharp and sour. She looked so much like him—eyes full of guilt and devotion all at once. But she hadn’t betrayed . Not like he had.
Still, she was his sister. And I knew what she would choose.
My gaze flicked back to Lucas, who stood tall despite the storm inside him. His mouth opened like he wanted to plead, to say sothing that might change it all.
But I was already walking away.
"Leave the kingdom," I said over my shoulder. "Now. And don’t let see your face again."
Silence.
The kind that carved itself into mory.
Then I heard his voice, soft and hoarse behind .
"If that’s what you want..."
I didn’t turn. I couldn’t.
A few monts later, I heard his footsteps retreat. Steady. Controlled. Like he was holding every emotion inside by the teeth.
Lira hesitated. I could feel her presence like a ghost behind .
"He’s still your ally," she said softly.
"He was," I replied. "Not anymore."
She said nothing for a long ti. Just the wind, and the distant sound of the ruined world groaning around us.
"I don’t agree with what he did," Lira said. "But I know my brother. And I know he’s breaking, Athena."
"He should break," I murmured. "He broke ."
When I turned, I thought maybe—just maybe—she’d stay.
But her face told everything.
"I can’t leave him," she whispered, voice shaking. "I love you, and I’m grateful that you saved. But I won’t leave him. Not again."
I nodded.
Then go with him.
She flinched like I slapped her.
I turned again before she could change her mind, before I could change mine. I walked away without looking back.
And when I finally stepped through the shattered outer gate of the kingdom and looked behind —
They were gone.
Lucas and Lira. Both.
And I had never felt so alone.
I kept walking until the ruins swallowed .
But I was already cracking.
The mont their footsteps disappeared into the distance, a silence more terrifying than any battlefield settled over . The kind that echoes in your bones. The kind that reminds you just how much you’ve lost.
I don’t know how I found my way to my room. To where I stayed temporarily. The tears ca before I could stop them.
Hot. Furious. Endless.
I curled in on myself, fists clenched in the dirt, my shoulders shaking with every sob I’d buried since this all began.
Since I lost my ho.
Since I lost my powers.
Since I found out who I really was... and how much that cost.
Since Lucas.
Gods, Lucas.
Even after all the lies, all the betrayals... part of still wanted to believe he was mine. That if I reached for him, he’d be there. That his touch wasn’t a dagger in disguise.
But he wasn’t here.
He chose to leave.
And I’d told him to.
A hand touched my shoulder. Gentle. Steady. Familiar.
I froze.
"Athena," Kieran’s voice was soft, deeper than usual.
I didn’t turn to look at him. I couldn’t. Not like this. Not sobbing into the dirt like so shattered thing. Not when I was supposed to be their goddess, their queen.
"I’m fine," I choked, wiping my face with the back of my hand. "Just... leave alone."
He didn’t.
Instead, he sat beside in the ash. Not saying a word. Just sitting. His presence calm. Solid.
We sat like that for what felt like an eternity—two battle-worn souls in a graveyard of mories.
"I didn’t ask them to choose," I snapped, but the heat vanished almost imdiately, lting into grief. "I just wanted the truth. For once. I wanted soone to stay."
Silence again. But not cold this ti. Not empty.
Just real.
Then Kieran said sothing I didn’t expect.
"I would always choose you."
I turned to him then, really looked at him. His hair was wind-swept, dirt smudged across one cheek, armor dull from weeks of war. But his eyes... they were steady. Unmoving. Always on .
"You don’t have to carry this alone anymore," he said. "Not as a goddess. Not as a ruler."
A tear slipped down my cheek again, but I didn’t wipe it away.
Kieran leaned closer, resting his forehead gently against mine.
"I’m not Lucas," he murmured. "But I’ve been here. Every battle. Every collapse. I saw you rise when others fled. I’ll keep standing with you, even when you can’t stand yourself."
Sothing inside splintered and softened at once.
I didn’t know if it was love.
But it was comfort.
And for now, that was enough.
I closed my eyes, let my head rest against his shoulder, and whispered, "Thank you."
Kieran’s presence was steady warmth at my side. It wasn’t like Lucas—storm and wildfire, always threatening to burn alive. No. Kieran was the quiet strength after the ruin. The last fla that refused to die.
I hadn’t realized how tightly I was clinging to his arm until he moved—and then suddenly, he pulled into him completely. His arms wrapped around with a force I wasn’t expecting, as if sothing inside him had finally cracked.
I stiffened for a second, caught off guard by how tightly he held .
"Kieran...?"
He didn’t let go. Just pressed his face into the crook of my neck, his breathing uneven, strained.
"I’m sorry," he murmured, voice thick with sothing I couldn’t na.
I tried to pull back, just to see his face, to ask what he ant, but his grip only tightened. "Hey... what is it? What do you really want from ?"
He froze.
His breath hitched.
And then he whispered, "No. Nothing."
Nothing.
A lie.
There was too much trembling in that word. Too much fire behind the silence that followed.
Before I could press him again, a wave of sothing strange rippled through —hot, sharp, and alive.
I gasped.
It started low in my belly and spread fast, like flas licking under my skin. My hands trembled, and I pulled away from Kieran instinctively, my body suddenly too warm, too sensitive, too aware.
My breath caught. "What... what is this?"
He looked at , alard. "Athena?"
"I—" My vision swam for a mont. The world tilted. Heat surged up my spine, curling around my neck, down my arms, between my thighs.
No. This wasn’t normal. It wasn’t just physical—it was magical.
Like sothing in had broken loose and was flooding everything at once.
I stumbled back, and Kieran caught again.
"What’s happening to you?"
"I don’t know." I was panting now. The heat was unbearable. My skin burned, my thoughts tangled. It wasn’t just lust, it wasn’t just magic—it was both. Intertwined. Ferocious. Wild.
I clutched his arm, trying to ground myself.
A sound left —half-moan, half-cry. "Kieran—"
He stared at , wide-eyed, then nodded slowly, trying to keep calm.
"No." I shook my head. "I’m not... I’m not weak."
"I didn’t say you were."
But I could see it in his eyes—the fear. Not of , but for .
I hated that.
I hated that whatever this was, it made feel helpless again.
The heat licked over my body like a fever.
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