15: IMMEDIATE BETRAYAL
611 Words
PHEEONA.
The kiss was raw. Devastating. Over before I had any real chance to catch up to it.
When Nashyn pulled back, I was breathless, completely undone, standing there blinking like I'd just been hit by something. He didn't even look affected. Just stepped aside, completely composed, like he hadn't just kissed me in front of half the realm.
Rude.
Vizellan stepped into his place.
His eyes moved over my face, slow and deliberate, landing on my mouth before lifting again. He leaned in.
I braced myself.
His lips didn't meet mine.
Instead they pressed against my cheek, lingering there a beat longer than necessary, long enough that I caught his scent properly for the first time—vanilla, rain, something underneath that I didn't have a word for, sinking deep into my bones in a way that almost embarrassed me. When he finally pulled back I actually missed it for half a second before I could stop myself.
Then Crowen was in front of me.
He smirked, dark and slow, shaking his head once. "I'm no such gentleman."
He reached out, cupped the back of my head, and kissed me like he meant to leave a mark.
My toes curled in my heels.
I didn't pull away.
The crowd erupted, cheers tearing through the cathedral grounds loud enough to drown out the sound of my own racing heart, and when Crowen finally pulled back, the priest stepped forward to seal everything with the final words of the ceremony.
Then Vizellan stepped up to address the crowd.
He raised a hand, and the noise dropped to something quieter, almost reverent.
"Today," he began, voice carrying clean across the grounds, "is not just a wedding."
A pause. Perfectly timed.
"It is the joining of a bond foretold by the goddess herself. Three kings, one mate, a union the realm has never witnessed before." He gestured toward Crowen and Nashyn beside him. "We did not choose this. The goddess chose it for us. And in our years of conquest, of building what Ashenbane has become, we've learned that what the goddess chooses, we do not question."
The crowd murmured its approval.
"Ashenbane was nothing but scattered territory once," he continued. "Now it stands as the single greatest power this realm has ever known. Every kingdom that has joined us has flourished beyond what it could have achieved alone. That is not conquest." His eyes swept the crowd. "That is legacy."
Cheers rose up from somewhere near the front.
"And our legacy," he said, "continues to grow."
I felt my stomach tighten before he even said the words.
"Shadowcrest," he announced, "has formally surrendered to Ashenbane's rule."
The crowd erupted.
"Their people will soon know what every territory under our banner already knows—prosperity, protection, and a home built to last generations." He let that settle, riding the wave of approval before continuing. "They will become another home. Another piece of what we are building together."
I gripped the bouquet tighter.
Then his gaze found mine.
Just briefly. Just long enough for something cold to settle in my chest before he looked back at the crowd.
"And Lunaris," he said, "has also laid down its surrender."
The cathedral grounds roared.
"Both kingdoms," Vizellan continued, voice rising over the noise, "will be absorbed into Ashenbane's rule, as is fitting on this day of unity and new beginnings."
I stood frozen on that altar, my heart slamming against my ribs, the bouquet crushed beneath my fingers.
They'd lied to me.
After everything. After the negotiations, the promises, my father fighting so hard to keep his kingdom standing on its own—Lunaris was gone anyway.
- Writer
