Astelion POV
The heat of the kitchen finally faded into a dull, throbbing ache as the final pots were scrubbed and the hearths were banked for the night. It had been a grueling, exhausting day not just from the physical labor, but from the crushing paranoia that had settled over the room like a second ceiling. No one had dared to speak to me after the king's psychic storm passed. No one except Lilly.
Before the heavy doors swung closed for the night, Lilly caught my arm. She didn't look at me with the fear she had held earlier instead, she pulled me into a tight embrace.
"I'm just happy you came to join the staff," she whispered softly into my shoulder, her voice thick with a quiet sincerity that nearly broke through my defenses. "I don't care what they say, Astelion. I'm just glad you're alive."
She let go with a small, supportive squeeze of my hand and slipped away leaving me alone in the quiet, shadowed corridor.
I let out a long, shuddering breath, rolling my neck and rubbing my sore, tense shoulders through the fabric of the uniform. Every muscle in my body screamed for rest. But as I turned the corner of the dim hallway, the exhaustion evaporated.
Kiono was there.
He was leaning casually against the stone wall, his arms crossed over his chest, his dark silhouette cutting a striking figure in the flickering torchlight. The moment he heard my boots against the stone, his eyes locked onto mine, the military mask he wore for the world instantly melting into a gaze of pure, protective warmth.
I couldn't help the soft smile that tugged at my lips. "Were you waiting long?"
"Not at all," Kiono replied, his gravelly voice a soothing balm to the ringing still caught in my ears. "I just got here."
He stepped away from the wall, closing the distance between us in a few long, effortless strides. Without a word, he reached down and slid his hand into mine. His fingers intertwined with mine perfectly, his warmth instantly chasing away the lingering chill of the palace. We began to walk hand in hand down the quiet, vacant hallway, our rhythmic steps echoing softly against the masonry.
He glanced down at me, a subtle smirk playing on his lips. "How was your day in the kitchen?"
"Eventful, to say the least," I sighed, leaning slightly into his side as we walked.
Kiono let out a low, amused rumble. "Really? Did you make enemies already?"
I laughed, a genuine, breathless sound. "You have no idea."
Before I could elaborate, Kiono stopped abruptly in front of an unmarked, heavy iron door tucked deep within a recessed archway. "We are going to go through this door today," he murmured.
I didn't question him. I trusted him with my life, a terrifyingly beautiful realization that ran deeper than any fear of the Cion or Castel. He pushed the door open, leading me through a dark, narrow back tunnel that bypassed the outer guard checkpoints entirely, opening up into a secluded, high-walled stone balcony that overlooked the vast kingdom below.
The night air was biting, but before the cold could settle, Kiono's grip on my hand tightened.
Suddenly, the pressure beneath my boots shifted. Kiono didn't jump instead, he seamlessly tapped into his telekinetic current. The air snapped around us, and without a sound, his boots lifted off the stone ground. I felt the familiar, invisible current of my own magic surge in response, uncoiling from my core.
The gravity beneath me dissolved, and I lifted off the ground right beside him, our hands still locked together as we floated into the open night sky.
We ascended rapidly, the palace shrinking into a cluster of distant below us. The wind whipped through my hair, but the telekinetic field we shared cut through the resistance, keeping us suspended in a breathless, weightless slipstream.
As we gained altitude, flying effortlessly through the crisp night air, I blinked against the wind and looked down. I expected us to pivot toward the dense, sprawling canopy of the forest where we usually found refuge. Instead, Kiono steered our trajectory higher, carving a path straight toward the towering peaks of the northern mountain range.
"Kiono?" I breathed, but the wind swallowed the sound. Soon, the steep, rocky inclines of the mountain loomed close, dusted in blinding sheets of white. Kiono started to lower himself, his descent smooth and calculated, and I followed his pull, tilting my body to glide downward through the freezing air. Through the swirling flurries of snow, the sharp angles of a hidden stone house came into view, buried deep within a secluded ridge of the mountain, entirely covered in a thick blanket of snow.
Our boots touched down onto the snow-laden porch with a soft, muffled crunch. The moment our weight settled, Kiono wrapped his arm completely around my waist, pulling me flush against his chest to shield me from the howling snow, and hurried me through the front door into the dark house.
He slammed the door shut, cutting off the roar of the blizzard, and immediately sparked a small fire in the hearth with a flick of his wrist.
I stood in the center of the warm, rustic room, shivering slightly as the heat began to radiate. I looked up at him, my brow furrowing as I took in the unfamiliar surroundings. "What's going on? Why are we here?"
Kiono sighed, his broad shoulders tightening as he stared into the growing flames. "I have a feeling my father is already searching the forest for us."
A cold dread, entirely unrelated to the weather, settled in my stomach. *
Why is he so afraid of his father finding us? I thought to myself, a frown deepening on my face.
Is he really that bad?
I stared at the tense, hard line of Kiono's jaw. The thought of running forever, of hiding in the frozen shadows while his family hunted him, made my chest ache with a profound, protective urge.
I don't want to keep running. I don't want to keep hiding.
"I want to meet your family," I said softly, stepping forward until I was standing directly in front of him. "If we are to be married, Kiono, we can't keep running away."
His face looked instantly tense, a shadow of deep-seated trauma and apprehension crossing his features. He looked away, his jaw clenching tightly.
I wouldn't let him retreat into his shell. I reached up, my small hands framing his face, my palms cupping his warm, rough cheeks to force him to look at me. I let all the passion, all the raw emotion I had held back in the corridor pour into my eyes. "I promise I will be okay. I can handle them."
Kiono stared down at me, his eyes searching mine for a long, heavy moment before he finally let out a defeated breath. He nodded slowly, placing his hands over mine. "We can do it... after the choosing festival."
Hearing those words, a spike of pure, panic tore through my chest.
The choosing festival.
My breath caught in my throat as my mind spun violently. That was the festival. That was exactly where Castel met Arastella. The cosmic axis of my entire timeline, the very event that initiated the ruinous path of the kingdom.
I had been so caught up in Kiono so utterly consumed by his touch, his confession, and the terrifyingly sweet reality of being loved by him that I had completely forgotten my purpose. I had forgotten the past I was sent to alter.
"When is the festival?" I asked, my voice suddenly tight, the panic bleeding through despite my best efforts to mask it.
"It's in two days," Kiono replied, misinterpreting the tension in my voice as simple nerves about the court.
"Everyone will be pretty busy. In fact... I have to head back to the palace tonight."
My eyes snapped to his. "Why? You just got home."
A soft, bittersweet smile touched his lips, and he stepped closer, his hands sliding down from my face to rest on my waist. "I am Castel's personal body guard, Astelion," he murmured, his thumb tracing a soothly against my hip.
"You are going to have to share my love with my duties."
He leaned down, his eyes darkening with that familiar, heavy passion, and pressed his mouth to mine. The kiss was slow, soft, and heartbreakingly tender a quiet promise of the future he was trying to build for us in the mountains.
He pulled away reluctantly, giving my hand one final squeeze before turning and walking through the door, disappearing back into the swirling white snow.
The lock clicked into place, and the silence of the mountain house crashed down on me.
Absolute panic set in. I dropped my head into my hands, my chest heaving as the weight of the timeline pressed down on my shoulders.
I looked around the small, warm house buried in the snow. I wanted to stay here. More than revenge, more than justice, I wanted to be with him. I wanted the life he had just promised me. But how could I allow the past to repeat itself? How could I let the world burn just to keep him?
If I stopped them from meeting, the timeline would shatter. The future I came from would cease to exist.
I would cease to exist.
The ring on my finger would vanish into ash, and Kiono would be left in this snowy mountain cabin, completely alone, mourning a girl he can no longer even remember.
The universe would erase every trace of me, wiping his memories clean of the maid who loved him.
My hands trembled as I wiped a stray tear from my cheek. I couldn't just sit here and weep. My original mission had been fueled by blood and vengeance, but now, the stakes were entirely different. I had forty-eight hours to figure out how to rewrite a god's destiny without erasing my own skin.
Stepping toward the frosted window, I watched Kiono's shadow disappear entirely into the whiteout of the blizzard. I had to play a dangerous game. I had to attend that festival, not as a submissive maid, and not just as a silent observer but as a ghost twisting the very strings of fate.
I am going to break his destiny piece by piece.