34 – Livid Rage
1105 Words
Asmeria stood frozen in shock, her eyes wide with disbelief as she watched the scene unfold before her.
Draven had kidnapped Evander? Why on earth?
Livid rage surged through Thorian, boiling his blood and clouding his vision with red haze. His fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white, the muscles in his jaw twitching with suppressed fury.
"You bastard!" He roared as he lunged towards Draven.
Draven's smirk widened into a sinister grin as he raised a hand in a mocking gesture of warning. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he taunted. "You know the policy of a formal ball—no violence."
Thorian's came to halt immediately, heaved with labored breaths as he glared daggers at Draven. His fists trembled with the effort of restraining himself.
Every fiber of his being screamed for revenge, for justice, but he knew that acting out in violence would only make matters worse.
With a final, venomous glare, Draven turned on his heel and strode towards the exit, his steps echoing through the room like the tolling of a funeral bell. "Goodbye," he called over his shoulder, and chuckled.
As Draven left, Asmeria approached Thorian with cautious steps. She was on the verge of breaking, in fact, she was already cracking at the seams of the fragile lock that had pieced her together for the past week.
But couldn't cry now, or breakdown here. She had to be strong for Thorian.
She reached out to him, her hand trembling slightly as she gently touched his arm,
"Don't pay any heed to him, Thorian," she began. "Evander is not his, I assure you. But we need to get him back from him. I'm sure he only took him because of the rivalry."
Thorian's gaze remained fixed at te open door Draven had just taken his exit from, his expression unreadable as he processed her words.
Silence hung heavy between them and the anxiety was nearly crippling as Asmeria awaited his next words.
After what felt like an eternity, Thorian finally spoke, his voice low. "Let's go home."
And without another word, he walked away, Asmeria's hands falling on her sides as Thorian left.
What would she do now?
Asmeria settled into the carriage beside Thorian. She stole a glance at him, noting the distant look in his eyes as he stared out of the window, lost in his own thoughts.
The urge to speak, to break the suffocating silence, gnawed at her insides. But what could she say?
She glanced down at her hands, twisting nervously in her lap, and felt a pang of guilt wash over her. She had wanted to talk to him, to confide in him, but what about? The truth? She couldn't bring herself to reveal the truth to Thorian, not yet.
Asmeria's heart clenched at the thought. She was scared — scared of telling the truth, scared of what that sick man was doing with Evander? Was he safe, was he well fed?
Her poor boy missed her, her poor boy was also scared and he yearned to come back home. But again, what could she do? How could sne save him.
And then, she was scared. She was scared that maybe, just maybe, she had started to fall in love with Thotianagain.
Each moment they shared seemed to rekindle something deep within her, something she had thought long dead.
And she could feel it, the mate bond mark pulsing. It was coming alive.
And because of that, she could not risk loosing him.
She needed to get Evander back all means. Forget about te feelings, lying to Thorian would be the only way to be sure he got Evander back.
If Thorian withdrew, then she would be left to fight alone. And she couldn't do that.
The carriage rolled on, the rhythmic clip-clop of the horses' hooves echoing in the silence. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she gazed out of the carriage window, the passing landscape blurred by her unshed tears.
She would have to keep lying.
-:-
Immediately arriving home, Thorian went took a long, hot shower to clear his thoughts.
Afterwards, he got dressed and laid his bed, and continued to ponder. He was torn between believing Asmeria's assurances and Draven's claims.
But deep down, Thorian knew where his loyalties lay. He trusted Asmeria.
Evander was his son, his flesh and blood. He could feel it in his bones whenever he looked at the boy, he was his father. And now, he would do whatever it took to bring him home where he belonged.
Draven's claims were nothing but lies.
And then, the memory of their he and Asmeria's kiss started to register in his brain. How their lips met and the electric spark that had ignited between them,
He tried to convince himself that those kisses were nothing more than fleeting moments of attraction — mere lust, not love. No, he stopped loving her years ago. He was only attracted to her body.
Plus, their wonky mate bond mark was probably the reason for the feelings of lust anyways. He had only married her just to be able to crown Evander alpha Prince. Not for anything else.
Yet, despite his efforts to rationalize away his emotions, Thorian couldn't shake the lingering sense of longing that tugged at his heartstrings. He craved her body, yes, but there was something more — something deeper that stirred within him whenever he thought of her.
But he refused to call it love.
He was torn between the desire to believe that he wasn't in love with her and the undeniable truth that his heart betrayed him with each fleeting thought of her.
There was something about Asmeria that had captivated him, something that went beyond mere physical attraction.
He had felt it in the way her eyes lit up when she smiled, in the warmth of her touch as they danced, in the way her laughter echoed in his ears long after it had faded away and the way her lid connected with his.
And as much as he tried to deny it, Thorian couldn't ignore the growing ache in his chest — something that he wasn't ready to admit, even to himself.
But the resurgence of his previous train of thought pushed away his feelings for Asmeria.
Why did Asmeria keep saying that he wasn't Evander's father. There was surely a reason behind it. Something that she didn't want to talk about.
Asmeria was hiding something from him, he concluded.
And until she said the truth, maybe there wasn't any need fighting for Evander anymore.
- Writer
