Chapter 227: Cruel Grief

Aveline did not know how long she walked.

She only knew she did not want anyone to see her.

Her feet carried her to one of the quieter gardens behind the Arcanum, where old willow branches curtained the stone benches from wandering eyes. The afternoon breeze rustled through the leaves, carrying the distant sounds of students laughing somewhere far away.

It all sounded so... normal... As though the world had not just been turned upside down.

She sank onto the cold stone beneath the willow and slowly drew her knees against her chest.

For a long while, she simply stared at the grass.

Then her shoulders began to shake.

One tear fell.

Then another.

Soon she could no longer stop them.

She buried her face against her knees, wrapped both arms around herself, and sobbed. It was not the quiet tears she had learned to hide over the years. These came from somewhere much deeper.

From the little girl who had watched her parents die... From the child who had spent years believing they had simply been unfortunate victims... From the orphan who had finally begun finding pieces of her past... only to discover they carried even more questions than answers.

Her cries echoed softly beneath the willow.

She did not notice the footsteps approaching.

"...Ava?"

Aelion stopped several paces away. His heart tightened. He had never seen her like this. Not even when she spoke about the scars on her back. Not even when she laughed through her own pain.

Now... She looked impossibly small.

"Ava..." He crouched before her. "What happened?"

No answer, but her trembling shoulders.

He swallowed. "Did someone hurt you?"

Nothing.

She hugged herself even tighter. Aelion looked around helplessly. He had no idea what to do. He had never been good at comforting people.

But before he could think of it... the air suddenly trembled.

A brilliant flash of white-violet light bloomed beneath the willow tree. Aelion instinctively stumbled backward, his hand flying toward the dagger at his waist.

The light vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

Someone stood there.

The Crown Prince, Vaelor Theron Blackwyre.

He had not arrived running. He had not walked through the garden. One moment the space had been empty.

The next... He was simply there... as if he had heard her call.

Aelion’s eyes widened. "...How..."

Theron barely acknowledged him. His entire attention was already on Aveline. He crossed the distance in two hurried steps before kneeling beside her.

"Aveline."

She didn’t react. She was still crying into her knees. Theron’s expression tightened with worry. Slowly, he reached out.

Aelion instinctively lifted a hand. "Wait—"

His fingers never reached them.

The moment Theron’s hand touched Aveline’s shoulder... White-violet light exploded around them. The air folded inward. For a heartbeat, the world itself seemed to blur.

Then... They were gone.

Silence returned beneath the willow.

Aelion remained frozen, one hand still suspended uselessly in the air. His mouth slowly fell open. "...What?"

He looked around wildly. It was empty. There wasn’t even a trace of them.

His heartbeat thundered in his ears.

Ava had told him that the Crown Prince was her man. He had believed she loved him. He had believed the prince cared for her.

But this... This was something else entirely.

He slowly lowered his hand, staring at the place where they had vanished.

"...Was that..."

He frowned.

"No..."

Teleportation?

That couldn’t be right.

Every spatial-bender knew the same rule. One person. Only one. Transporting another living person across such a distance was impossible.

Unless... Unless it hadn’t been teleportation at all.

A chill ran down his spine.

"What... are you two?"

-----

The world folded around them.

When the light faded, they stood beside a narrow stream hidden deep within the royal forest. Crystal-clear water trickled over smooth stones, its quiet murmur weaving together with the rustling leaves overhead. Evening had begun its slow descent, bathing the woods in warm gold while birds called lazily to one another before returning to their nests.

It was peaceful. Too peaceful.

Theron barely noticed.

The moment they arrived, he gathered Aveline into his arms. He held her so tightly that she could hear his heart pounding against his chest.

He had felt it.

The pain.

Not merely sadness, but a grief so sharp it had stolen his breath, as though someone had driven a blade straight through his own heart. The instant it struck him, he had abandoned everything and followed the bond until he found her curled beneath that willow tree, so heartbreakingly small that something inside him had nearly shattered.

"Aveline..." His voice was little more than a whisper. "I’m here."

That was all he could say.

There were no clever words. No promises. Only himself.

Slowly, her trembling eased.

His familiar scent surrounded her. His steady heartbeat, the warmth of his embrace, the gentle rhythm of his breathing...

Little by little, the storm inside her quieted.

Theron rested his cheek against her hair before finally speaking. "Will you tell me what happened?"

Aveline lifted her head. His face filled her vision. There was no impatience. No suspicion. Only worry. His dark eyes looked almost pained, as though he were carrying the weight of her tears himself.

Her hands rose of their own accord and cupped his cheeks. He leaned into her touch without hesitation.

She closed the distance and kissed him. Softly. Wordlessly. Theron’s arms slipped around her waist, drawing her closer until there was scarcely any space left between them.

When he answered the kiss, it was with a tenderness that only he ever gave her, as though she were something infinitely precious.

When they finally parted, she rested her forehead against his.

"I don’t know who I can trust anymore, Theron."

Fresh tears gathered despite her efforts to stop them.

His thumb gently brushed them away. "You have me." The answer came without hesitation. "Don’t you?"

His chest tightened the moment he said it.

For days now, he had buried himself in the Chancellor’s affairs, pulling apart ledgers, questioning merchants, tracing forgotten routes and hidden transactions. Yet the deeper he dug, the stronger an unsettling feeling became.

Something was missing. Not from the investigation. From himself. There was a gap inside his memories. A missing piece that refused to reveal itself.

He wanted to tell her.

To tell her that he believed something had been stolen from him. That the chancellor was connected to Aurelmont, and probably her father somehow. He had a feeling that he knew what that connection was, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. That he suspected those missing memories might hold the answers she sought.

But suspicion was not proof. Hope was dangerous. He could not bear to give her false hope only to watch it collapse.

Not again.

So instead, he simply held her tighter.

Aveline buried her face against his shoulder once more. His words soothed her. His embrace soothed her. His very presence made the world seem a little less unbearable.

Yet... A quiet thought crept into her heart.

He had promised her. He had promised to investigate her parents’ deaths.

And still... There were no answers.

Theron possessed powers no ordinary man should have. He was the Crown Prince. He could alter memories. He could cross impossible distances in the blink of an eye.

Yet somehow... The one truth she longed for remained forever beyond his reach.

A small bitterness stirred inside her.

She hated it the instant it appeared.

She did not want to doubt him. She did not want to question the one person who had never failed to stand beside her.

But grief was cruel. It whispered questions where trust once stood.

She looked into his eyes. The question trembled against her lips.

Should she ask?

Or would asking be the very thing that shattered the peace she had finally found in his arms?