Chapter 420: Atonement

Cassia;

Silent tears escape me as I stare at Liandria’s body. No one makes a sound. No one dares.

Liandria lies against me exactly as she was, seconds ago—her head tucked beneath my chin, her silver hair stained crimson where my trembling fingers cradle it, and her heart silent as a deserted kingdom.

She has become cold. That is the part I cannot bear. Not the blood, not the ruined flesh at her side...Not even the silence that followed her final breath.

But the cold. It crept into her skin little by little, stealing away the last traces of the woman who, only moments ago, smiled at me through unbearable pain and thanked me for loving her son.

I tighten my hold around her instinctively. As though I can somehow keep the warmth from leaving...As though my own body can bargain with death.

I know I can’t. No one can.

"...Your Majesty." A guard calls, and I freeze.

His voice is quiet. Careful...Afraid. I don’t answer, but he keeps speaking.

"The physician...She can’t..."

"I know." I cut him off, and I feel my heart crumble to ruins completely inside me.

I knew she wouldn’t make it. I knew the moment I looked into that wound.

The darkness eating through her flesh wasn’t poison. It wasn’t an ordinary curse; it was death.

The young healer beside me slowly lowers the herbs she had been clutching with white knuckles. Her shoulders shake once before she bows her head.

"...I’m sorry." She whispers, and a small, shallow smile splits my lips.

I look up at the young girl, and she avoids my gaze.

"What are you apologising for? No one can bargain with death." I speak softly, and as she looks up at me, more tears escape her eyes.

She didn’t fail. None of us did...We simply weren’t enough.

"No..." A whisper suddenly reaches my ear, and everything inside me pauses.

The voice is his voice. My eyes slowly lift to him. To Bram.

The guards have forced him to his knees several paces away. Four of them. Holding him in place like he can do anything worse than he’s already done.

He doesn’t fight. Not anymore. His wrists hang limply in their grip, and his gaze remains fixed on Liandria. On the blood. On the widening pool staining the stone beneath us, as well as my dress.

"I..." His lips tremble violently. "It shouldn’t have been her..." He breathes, and anger...anger as I have never felt floods me like waves from an enraged sea.

I stare at him as my jaw clenched. His smug smile is gone. The arrogance and certainty that someone stronger would always stand behind him.

The warlock is dead. His borrowed power died with him. Now Bram has nothing. Absolutely nothing...

Except the consequences waiting patiently for him. Consequences I regret delaying.

His eyes suddenly meet mine. There is terror there—pure, unfiltered terror.

Not because he sees my grief... But because he recognises it. He knows exactly what he’s done.

"It wasn’t..." His voice cracks so hard the sentence dies in his throat. "It wasn’t..."

His eyes dart back toward Liandria. "I..." Another sob tears from him. But it means nothing. We both know it means nothing.

There are no sentences large enough to contain what happened here. No explanation worthy of hearing...No excuse capable of filling the hole he just created.

I lower my gaze back to Liandria. A lock of her beautiful, silver hair has fallen across her face. Without hesitating, I tuck it gently behind her ear.

It’s such a simple gesture. One I never imagined making for her. Not years ago. Not back then when we measured every conversation like a battle.

Back then, every smile hid suspicion, and every kindness was questioned.

How strange. It took death...For peace to finally settle between us.

"I hate this." The whisper escapes me before I realise I’ve spoken.

"You waited until the very end to become my sister." I smile again as fresh tears blur my vision.

"And now you’ve left me with all the difficult work." My laugh comes out broken as I speak.

It’s weak. And it hurts. My heart, my soul, my mind. It all hurts. She would have rolled her eyes. She would have called me dramatic; she would have told me to stop crying before the guards started seeing me as weak.

But now, she just lay...silent.

The kind of silence that presses against my ears and heart so hard, breathing itself feels wrong.

Heavy boots march against stone, and I look up to see the captain step forward.

Commander Josu. He removes his helmet before approaching me. Then he kneels.

"...Your Majesty... What do we do with him?" He questions, and I stay silent as my eyes wander back to the boy still being held.

It’s funny. Now he’s in his real form, after causing this much damage. It’s almost like the goddess wants him to be seen for what he truly is. A curse... A disgusting, despicable curse that only causes chaos and destruction.

I look at Josu, and he hesitates. He has served me for years.

Long enough to recognise the difference between silence that asks to be left alone... and silence waiting for duty. ℴ

He chooses correctly.

"The people have begun gathering outside the square." He informs, and I take a breath.

Of course they have. Word travels faster than ravens. Especially grief.

"They’re asking what happened." He adds, and my fingers tighten around Liandria.

She’s still cold. Still growing colder.

"What should I tell them?" He asks, and although I heard him, I don’t answer immediately.

Because there is only one truth. And once spoken aloud...Nothing will ever be the same again.

I take one slow breath. Then another, before lifting my head.

My tears have stopped. Not because the grief has lessened. But because there is work to do.

"There will be time for mourning," I breathe.

"But first..." I continue as I slowly rise to my feet, never once letting go of Liandria.

I scoop her in my arms. Holding her close. So close, I hope that even in death she feels my love. She feels and knows that someone believed in her. Someone saw the changes she was willing to make, and someone appreciates it.

My gaze settles on Bram again. He flinches as though he can already see the verdict in my eyes.

Good. Because the time of mercy that he enjoyed and abused has finally come to an end.

It’s over for him. Completely over. Nothing. And no one will save him now.

I swear it.

He begins shaking his head like he heard my thought.

"No..." he breathes, his voice barely audible.

He tries to stand, but the guards force him back down. Panic floods his face.

"Please..." he begs. A pathetic plea that changes nothing. Not for him, not for me...Not for anyone.

"I can help." He breathes.

"I know where the warlocks are hiding. I know the routes they use. I know the names of people inside their coven. I know everything." He pulls desperately against the guards.

"I’ll tell you all of it!" He screams as his breathing turns ragged.

For the first time since Liandria died... I look directly into his eyes. And I feel... Nothing.

Not hatred, not satisfaction...Just nothing.

He is already smaller than the damage he has done. He could spend a thousand lifetimes apologising. He could empty every secret from his mind, and could beg until his voice gives out. But none of it...will bring Rhydian’s mother home.

I turn to Josu.

"Take him to the square," I order. Bram’s face instantly drains of colour.

"Yes, Your Majesty..."

"Queen Cassia!!" He screams, but my eyes never return to him.

"...String him up." Josu orders as I turn towards the castle with Liandria in my arms.

The courtyard falls into absolute silence as I carry my co-wife, my sister...a darling, broken storm who had only just started seeking atonement, back inside the castle with me.