CHAPTER THREE
1925 Words
ELISA’S POV
I didn’t go quietly.
Even with my legs crippled and barely able to move, I refused to be dragged like a sack of grain without a fight. The guards grunted and struggled to pull me across the floor, huffing as I twisted and resisted with every ounce of stubbornness I had left.
When we reached Alec’s chamber, I saw Priest Festus trying to follow behind us, but one of the guards shoved him back and slammed the door in his face. Then the guards tossed me to the ground, not even caring where I landed.
I winced as my knees hit the cold floor, but I didn’t let them hear me cry out. I wouldn’t give anyone that pleasure.
I looked up, and there he was… Alec.
The man who once swore he’d love me forever. The same man who stood me up at the altar. Now he sat on the edge of the bed like a prince on his throne, holding Talyra to his chest as though she were some fragile thing he couldn’t bear to let go. His hand ran slowly over her hair affectionately.
He didn’t even blink when our eyes met, no recognition in his eyes, nothing.
“You’ve been given one chance,” he said, his voice sounded flat. “Confess how you poisoned her. Maybe that’ll reduce your punishment.”
My stomach twisted. I could feel my heart cracking again, the wound ripping back open like it had never started to heal. But I didn’t let my voice break as I responded.
“I didn’t poison her,” I said, calmly and clearly without tears, even though it was threatening to pour out.
He lifted his chin slightly, as if I’d confirmed his expectations. “Jealousy makes people do strange things. Maybe you didn’t mean to, maybe you were hurt… angry that she came back, angry that she was by my side again. That kind of pain… it can push someone to do something reckless.”
“You think I tried to kill her because I was jealous?” I let out a low, dry laugh. It tasted like ash in my mouth. “That’s how little you think of me now? She can have you, I don’t care anymore, Alec. You destroyed me and left me, I would never get jealous over you, not anymore.”
Instead of answering, he turned his gaze toward Talyra and whispered to her like I wasn’t even in the room. “Tell her what you told me, don’t be afraid.”
Talyra straightened slightly, her fingers curling into the hem of his shirt as she put on the performance of a lifetime.
“I… I didn’t want to say anything,” she began, her voice trembling. “But… this morning, before the ceremony, she came to my room. I didn’t know what she was doing. She said she wanted to talk. And then… she stabbed me with something. I didn’t realize it was poison until I collapsed later.”
She paused, forcing tears to well up in her eyes. Her voice became so soft and full of fear that was also fake, and then she continued, “She told me it wouldn’t hurt much. That it would all be over soon.”
The lie rolled so smoothly from her lips it made my stomach turn.
“If you hadn’t shown up at the clinic, Alec, I would have died,” she added
I stared at her without responding. I didn’t scream or deny it, I just narrowed my eyes and memorized her every word.
Alec turned to me.
“Elisa, is that true?”
I didn’t even blink. “I’m not going to say a thing. Go ahead! Believe whatever comes out of that b***h’s mouth.”
The moment the word left my lips, Alec’s expression changed.
He stood from the bed like he’d been slapped. “Watch your words, Elisa,” he warned, his vice instantly hardening. “I won’t tolerate disrespect.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
Who was this man?
He wasn’t the Alec I gave everything to. He wasn’t the boy I once saved with my forbidden magic. He wasn’t the man who had promised to stand by me, love me, protect me forever.
This was a stranger.
“I don’t even know who you are anymore,” I whispered bitterly, holding my tears back from falling.
He didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to the guards. “Take her to the cell. Lock her up until she’s ready to talk.”
The concrete cells were just as cold as I remembered.
They dragged me there in silence and dumped me on the hard floor. My body ached, but my legs remained lifeless. I didn’t cry, scream or beg because the truth was I wasn’t heartbroken anymore, I was numb.
He had already broken every part of me worth breaking.
Some time passed. I didn’t know how long. My eyes stayed fixed on the crack in the wall across from me, trying not to think.
Then, I heard footsteps.
“Elisa!” Festus appeared outside the bars, panting, guilt was all over his face. “Elisa, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know, I swear to the Goddess, I didn’t think he’d…”
I said nothing...
“I didn’t think he’d push you that far. I didn’t think he’d turn on you like this, not on your wedding day. After everything you’ve done for him…”
Still, I said nothing. I remained quiet.
He slapped his forward hard. “You saved his life once… remember? The war, he came back near death. And you… you used the magic your parents warned you never to touch to heal him. You revived him and stopped him from dying. That magic destroyed your family’s home, the pillars fell that night and It killed your parents. And now he had forgotten all about that…”
“I remember,” I whispered, cutting him off. “I remember everything. I remember the fire, the explosion. I remember my mother’s scream, I remember their blood on the floor. All because I loved him too much to let him die.”
Festus swallowed hard. “I’ll keep trying. I’ll fix this, Elisa… I would try my best to plead with him to let you out.”
I shook my head. “You can’t… Just go.”
He hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked away, leaving me alone.
I didn’t know how long I had been lying on the cold floor drifting between sleep and wakefulness, my mind stuck in a storm of pain, confusion, and betrayal.
But then, a sharp sound suddenly tore through the sky above.
It wasn’t the wind, and it wasn’t thunder either. It was something else entirely loud, fierce, and alive, as if the heavens were being ripped open.
Startled, I blinked and sat upright, my body aching by the sudden jolt. A wild orange light suddenly flooded the small, dark room of the cell I was in. My chest tightened from curiosity, and I crawled toward the tiny barred window to see what was happening outside.
What I saw made my breath catch.
A huge ball of fire, bright and fast, was streaking across the sky like a burning comet. It wasn’t just passing by… it was heading straight towards the cell.
I screamed and tried to push myself back from the window, panic flooding my veins. But I didn’t get far. Before I could reach the far wall, the fireball slammed into the iron bars of my window with a deafening crash.
The sound of snapping metal filled the air as the flames roared, and a wave of heat rolled over me. I covered my face with my arms, bracing for what might come next.
Then, all at once, there was silence.
Smoke curled through the broken window, and for a moment, I couldn’t see anything. But then, through the haze, I noticed there was a figure on the floor of my cell.
A man.
His skin was ablaze, his chest was bare, and his pants half-burnt. Yet somehow, he was still breathing, still alive.
“Help…” he groaned, lifting his head slightly. That was when our eyes met… and I froze.
His eyes were glowing.
Not just glowing, they were shining with a piercing blue that looked far from human. Something in them made my heart stop.
Quickly, I looked around and spotted an old piece of ragged cloth lying in the corner. Without thinking, I grabbed it and started crawling toward him.
“I’m coming!” I shouted, pushing through the pain in my legs.
“Hurry…” he breathed, his voice growing weaker now.
“I can’t walk!” I hissed, dragging myself across the floor anyway. “But I’m trying!”
The moment I reached him, I threw the cloth over his burning body and pressed it down firmly, trying to smother the remaining flames. He let out a painful grunt, his face twisting as the fire finally went out beneath the pressure of my hands.
Then something strange happened.
Right in front of me, his skin started healing. The burns faded away, and the damaged skin turned smooth like nothing had happened. I stared, frozen in shock. Even I had the power to heal people but can’t heal my own body.
He sat up slowly, and I realized just how tall he was—probably around six foot four. Broad shoulders, strong arms… he looked powerful. His glowing eyes met mine, and I couldn’t look away.
I shifted back a little, scrambling on the floor as my heart started beating faster.
“Why are you afraid?” he asked quietly.
“Who are you?” I asked, my voice was a whisper.
“Someone who just lost a war,” he replied, his tone was flat but not too cold.
He lowered himself and gently touched my legs, I tried to wiggle it out of his grasp, but his grip was so strong.
“What happened to you?” he asked, his voice was strong and unbelievably deep.
“Nothing, I… I fell,” I answered quickly, without thinking.
He looked at me for a long moment. “You didn’t fall,” he said, not like a guess, but like he already knew.
I frowned deeply, fear and curiosity still held me from breathing properly. “How do you know that?”
“I can hear your thoughts,” he said simply. “You can’t lie to me.”
Before I could say anything else, he moved his hand slowly from my thigh to my ankle. I didn’t understand what he was doing, and it sent shivers down my spine for a stranger to touch me that was, but all of a sudden, I felt something.
Heat spread through my leg. It started out warm, then turned to a sharp pain, like pins and needles waking up underneath my skin.
Then all of a sudden, I could feel my legs again.
I gasped and looked up at him, completely stunned. “Who are you?” I asked, my voice shaking in awe.
He stood tall, looking down at me with calm eyes that still somehow giving off a cold energy.
“My name is Azrien,” he said.
His gaze softened a little, but he still felt a little too stern.
“Azrien, the moon god,” he said, and my mouth dropped open, but words refused to come out.
- Writer
