Aurelius appeared before me again.
He held the compass. “Rhea, look. I have killed them all. Everyone who hurt you. The compass has stopped. I have killed every last
one!”
He was covered in blood and wounds, but his eyes burned with a terrifying light.
“And
my lieutenant. I used a soul–scour spell on him. I saw all his memories.” His voice broke. “I never knew… I never knew how
deeply I had hurt you…”
With a thud, Aurelius fell to his knees, begging for my forgiveness. “Rhea, give me another chance. Please, just look at me. I would shed every drop of my blood to kill anyone in this universe who has ever harmed you.”
I looked at his tear–streaked face, but felt nothing. A soul–scour was a death sentence. The lieutenant was dead. But he was just a pawn. What did his death matter?
“Really? You’re not lying? You would kill anyone who has harmed me?”
Chapter 2
1210
Hearing me speak to him, Aurelius grew even more frantic, nodding eagerly. “I’m not lying! I swear it!”
A faint smile touched my lips, a chilling sight against my pale, bloodless face. “Then kill yourself. You, Aurelius, Crown Prince of the
Celestial Realm, are the one who hurt me the most.”
Aurelius looked as if he had been struck by lightning. He crawled on his knees to my bedside, his voice choked with sobs as he confessed. “Rhea, you have always been in my heart. We grew up together. You were my dearest love.”
“But when you went to the Emperor yourself, when you announced it to the world… it shamed me. I am the Crown Prince. I am a
man. Those are things I should have done.”
“I was unhappy, so I rejected the betrothal. You were too spirited. I wanted to temper you. But I never stopped loving you!”
“As for your sister, Lyra, I have no feelings for her! When she said you tried to poison her, I thought you had lost your way. I only wan- ted to guide you, to let you gain some perspective in the mortal realm.”
“I even placed a ward of protection on you! With that ward, you should have been perfectly safe!”
“Enough,” I whispered, cutting him off.
“That ward was never placed on me. And even if it had been, you would have shattered it yourself. After all, my six feathers, my phoenix bones… you were the one who broke them.”
At my words, Aurelius buried his face in his hands and wept. He repeated my name over and over. “Rhea, Rhea, forgive me… I was a
fool, I was blind…”
I just reminded him of my oath. “Your Highness, there is no need to cry. I have sworn that I will have nothing to do with you in this
life. Please, leave.”
Aurelius collapsed to the floor, as if he couldn’t process it. He was finally realizing that all his past actions had become boomeran- gs, and they were all coming back to strike him.
