Astelion POV
I stepped out into the quiet, torch-lit corridor just outside the royal wing, the oak doors closing behind me. I needed a moment to breathe, to let the static electricity under my skin settle. But as I turned the corner into the arched stone alcove, my heart slammed against my ribs.
Kiono was there, leaning heavily against the stone wall. I froze, my defensive instincts instantly flaring, but before I could summon a wave of telekinesis or tell him to get out of my sight, he held up a hand. His face was pale, shadows stretching beneath his sharp cheekbones.
"Wait," he said, his voice low and ragged.
"Just listen. You don't have to say anything."
I swallowed the bitter taste of bile in my throat, forcing my expression into a cold, unyielding mask.
"Okay. I am listening."
I took three deliberate steps backward, putting a vast, heavy distance between us in the narrow hallway. I wanted him to see the barrier I was building. I wanted him to feel it.
Kiono stared at the empty space between us for a fraction of a second before he forced his posture straight, his shoulders tightening into the rigid frame of a soldier. When he spoke, he sounded completely detached, reciting protocols like a stranger.
"Now that you are the Queen's personal guard, your rules are different," he said, keeping his eyes locked onto mine. "You need to always be by her side. Especially since she is not able to use her powers right now, and there are a lot of people in this palace who don't agree with her being the Queen. Across the hallway is a room. That will be your room when you need to rest or take a break. But before you ever step away, you need to ensure there is another guard covering the Queen. You check every plate of food, every gift, every gown—every and anything that enters that room goes through you first."
"Okay," I responded, my voice clipping the air. "Thanks."
"I am not done yet," Kiono cut in quietly. "The room next to the Queen belongs to Mell, the palace healer. He isn't back yet. He's currently out in the provinces trying to bring a soul back from the dead... if that soul even wants to return to its body. That room across the hall, the one you'll be staying in? It used to be mine. But I cleared everything out. I left your new uniform and your weapons inside."
My brow furrowed, a sudden spike of irritation breaking through my cold facade.
"Why are you giving me your room?"
"It wasn't a choice," Kiono replied, a hallow laugh escaping his chest.
"The quarters the Queen is occupying belong to Castel. Technically, it's both of their rooms now. But the King is giving her space, so he's staying in another wing entirely. Where he goes, I go. If and when they finally join rooms together, I'll be reassigned to stay with Mell, and you and I can take alternating shifts guarding the doors."
"Thanks for the heads up."
I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, defensive and closed off. As I pulled my arms inward, Kiono's gaze dropped to my bare wrist and fingers.
He noticed instantly. The ring and the token were completely gone. A shadow of pure, excruciating hurt washed over his face. He took a sudden, desperate step closer to me, his hand automatically reaching out as if to grab my wrists, but he caught himself.
He pulled his hand back, his fingers trembling slightly before he dropped his arm to his side and looked down at the stone floor.
"Where is the ring?" he whispered.
"In the trash," I said.
Kiono winced as if the words were a physical blade. He looked up, his jaw tight.
"You say it so coldly. Like all we had meant absolutely nothing. Like it was all a lie."
"Because it was all a lie," I spat, the anger boiling over, hot and toxic in my chest. "You lied to me!"
"No, I did not!" he protested, his voice cracking with a sudden, desperate intensity.
"I was honest with you about everything I felt! I... I thought you knew. I thought you knew he was my father."
"I wouldn't dare put myself with the son of a monster," I whispered, the words dripping with disgust. I stepped forward, confronting him, the pain in my chest nearly suffocating me.
"Do you even care, Kiono? Do you even care about the horrific things your father does to innocent people?"
"Of course I care!" he yelled back, tears finally welling in his eyes.
"That was why I wanted to protect you! That's why I wanted to make sure you were okay before I ever introduced you to my family!"
"He destroyed my family, Kiono!" I screamed, tears finally spilling over my own eyelashes, hot and furious.
"That's why I am here. I am here to kill him. Can you honestly look at me and tell me you can still love me after knowing that?"
"Of course I can still love you," he choked out.
He lifted his head, and through the shimmer of his tears, I watched the brilliant blue of his illusion completely fade away. His eyes turned into that dark, striking emerald green—his true color. The color of the lineage I hated. Yet, the raw agony radiating from them was entirely his own.
"Can't you still love me?" he begged, his voice breaking.
I swallowed hard, my throat feeling completely dry, like ash. The truth was an agonizing weight crushing my soul. Of course I love him. I couldn't stop loving him even if I tore my own heart out.
I wanted nothing more than to erase yesterday, to throw myself into his arms, and to let him hide me away from the rest of this bleeding world. But I couldn't. The blood on his hands by extension of his birth was a boundary I could never cross. It hurt so badly I felt like I was dying.
"I can't, Kiono," I wept, shaking my head as the reality settled between us like a tombstone. "I can't. When I look at you... I just see him."
Kiono stared at me, the emerald green of his eyes drowning in unshed tears. "So where do we go from here?"
"There is no more we," I whispered, wiping a stray tear from my cheek with a trembling hand.
"And you and I go nowhere. We work together, we guard the line, and I take my revenge."
The tears flowed freely now, blurring his silhouette. Seeing me break down was the final straw for his restraint. Kiono lunged across the distance separating us and threw his arms around me, pulling me against his bare chest.
I instinctively panicked, my hands flying up to hit his chest. I tried to pull away, twisting in his grip, but a deeply buried, pathetic part of me just wanted him to keep holding me forever, to shield me from the very nightmare he belonged to.
"Let go, Kiono," I sobbed, my voice muffled against his shoulder.
"I can't," he whispered into my hair, his grip tightening like a vise. "I can't let go."
He pulled back abruptly, his hands framing my face, and slammed his lips against mine. The kiss was desperate, messy, and fueled by pure, grief. At first, the anger in me fought back. I hit his chest with my fists, pushing against his iron weight, and when he wouldn't budge, I brought my hand up and slapped him hard across the cheek.
The sharp crack echoed in the empty hallway. He broke the kiss, staring at me, his breathing ragged. Under the sheer duress of his emotions, his illusion flared back up out of pure habit, his eyes shifting back to that familiar, piercing electric blue.
Before I could even process the change, he leaned right back in and kissed me again.
This time, the illusion of the boy I fell for shattered my defenses. I reached up, my fingers tangling deep into his dark hair, pulling him closer as a low, broken moan escaped his throat straight into my mouth. Hearing that familiar, beautiful sound completely ruined me.
I kissed him back with a fierce, starving intensity, our hands instantly moving, roaming and exploring each other's bodies through the fabric of our clothes as if we were trying to memorize the feeling before the world ended.
But the air ran out. Kiono broke the kiss to catch his breath, his forehead resting gently against mine.
As the fog of passion cleared for a split second, I looked at his face in the dim torchlight. With his dark hair tousled and his chest heaving, the image of Cion Tokio flashed vividly in my mind's eye. The resemblance was uncanny, a suffocating ghost looming directly over us.
The spell broke. I grabbed his shoulders and pushed him away from me with all the strength I had left.
"Stop," I cried out, my voice trembling as I clutched my own stomach, the nausea returning. "Please, just stop."
Kiono stumbled back, looking at me with a profound, hollow emptiness in his eyes. He closed his mouth, swallowing whatever plea was left in his throat.
"I am sorry," he whispered.
He turned around and began to walk away down the grand corridor, his boots making a heavy, lonely sound against the stone. He didn't look back. Not once. But even with his back turned, I could see the heavy tremble in his shoulders, could see the silent tears falling, and I could feel his absolute heartbreak radiating through the empty air.
And as I watched the only boy I had ever loved disappear around the dark corner, I sank to my knees against the cold wall, completely hurting just as badly.