Chapter 139 139
Chapter 139
Amarien's POV
I wake to the sound of a shuffle.
For a moment, I think I am still dreaming.
I have dreamt of him before.
Of tiny footsteps that never truly existed. Of laughter, I never heard outside my own mind. Of a child running toward me through sunlight I cannot quite reach.
My chest tightens instinctively.
Not again.
The shuffle comes closer.
Real.
I blink against the dimness of the cell. The torch outside has burned lower. Shadows stretch long across the stone.
And then I see him.
A child stands before the bars.
Watching me.
My breath catches in my throat.
He has amber eyes.
Bright and molten like Daevir’s when the firelight catches them just right. Round baby cheeks. His hair falls loosely around his face, slightly unruly, as if no servant has yet dared tame it this morning.
He is dressed in a miniature version of imperial robes. The weight of a title is far too large for such a small frame.
Understanding strikes me all at once.
Ares. It's him!
My stomach twists.
“Mama,” he mutters.
The word hits me like a physical blow.
I freeze.
What is he doing here?!
How did he get here?!
The dungeon is not a place children wander into by accident.
I push myself upright slowly, my pulse hammering in my ears.
He tilts his head slightly, as if listening for something only he can hear.
That is when I remember.
Blind. He is blind!
He cannot see me.
But how…?
My gaze moves over his face again, more carefully this time.
His eyes are beautiful, but unfocused.
He smiles again, as if sensing my breath shift.
“Mama,” he repeats softly.
The word trembles through me.
I step back instinctively, retreating to the far end of the cell.
I should not touch him.
I should not let him close.
If Daevir finds him here…
If anyone sees…
My thoughts spiral.
How did he find his way here?
Did someone bring him?
Or did he walk through corridors by himself?
The image unsettles me.
He steps closer to the bars. Carefully.
Hands slightly outstretched. He crawled up to me.
His movements are cautious but determined, like he has practiced navigating spaces without sight.
My throat tightens.
He reaches the bars and wraps his small, clumsy fingers around the iron.
Then, before I can stop him, he leans forward and presses his mouth against it.
Licks it.
I gasp.
The metal is filthy!
“Ares,” I breathe before I can stop myself.
He smiles wider at the sound of my voice.
“Mama!” he squeaked.
I rush forward without thinking and gently pry his hand away from the bars.
“You’ll hurt yourself, silly,” I murmur, instinct guiding my tone more than reason.
My fingers close around his wrist. He stills instantly at my touch.
His other hand reaches out blindly and brushes against my arm.
The contact sends a tremor through me.
A shiver I cannot suppress.
His skin is warm against mine.
Alive and Trusting.
He tilts his face upward slightly, as if trying to memorize me through touch alone.
“Mama?” he whispers again.
My chest
“Ares…” I breathe his name as if it were something fragile.
It feels strange on my tongue.
Sacred.
“You have a beautiful name,” I whisper.
He tilts his head slightly at the sound of my voice, those ember eyes unfocused yet somehow searching. There is something unbearably soft about the way he stands there, small fingers curled around the iron bars, dressed in a miniature emperor’s robe that drapes awkwardly over his tiny frame.
He looks like Daevir.
The same fire in his coloring. The same stubborn lift to his chin.
But there is something else in him, too.
Something gentler.
Something untouched.
Before I can say anything more…
A sharp clang splits the air.
Then another.
And another.
Alarm bells.
They blaze through the palace walls, loud and frantic, the sound vibrating through stone and bone alike.
My heart stops.
Shouts echo down distant corridors.
“Prince Ares is missing!”
The words slam into me.
Boots thunder overhead. Doors crash open. Orders are barked in panic.
My pulse begins to pound so violently that I can hear it in my ears.
No.
No, no…
Ares stands inches from me.
In the dungeon.
At my cell.
If they find him here…
If they see him standing outside my prison…
What will they think?
My stomach drops.
They will not believe this is an accident.
They will not believe he wandered here on his own.
They will think I called him.
That I lured him.
That I used whatever power they already fear I possess to draw him to me.
The cursed concubine.
The grieving mother.
The woman who supposedly let children suffer. And ears their flesh in the night.
My hands tremble.
“What have you done?” I whisper, though I know he does not understand.
He smiles faintly at the sound of my voice, unaware of the chaos exploding through the palace.
Guards rush somewhere above us.
More voices.
“Search every corridor!”
“Check the lower halls!”
My breathing becomes shallow.
If they find him here, they will not ask questions first.
They will react.
And reaction in this palace often means violence.
They will think I intend to harm him.
Or worse, that I already have.
The thought makes my chest constrict painfully.
I glance at the cell door.
Locked.
Thick iron.
No key in sight.
I am trapped.
And now…
So is he.
Bootsteps echo closer now. Not yet in the dungeon corridor, but near enough that it is only a matter of time.
My mind races.
Should I push him away?
Send him wandering back into the corridors?
But he is blind.
He should not have been able to navigate here at all.
How did he even find this place?!
The dungeon is not near the main halls.
It is hidden.
And yet…
He came straight to me.
My gaze drops to him again.
“Ares,” I whisper urgently, crouching slightly so my voice lowers toward him. “You should not be here. You shouldn't have come.”
He doesn’t flinch.
Doesn’t step back.
Instead, he reaches forward slightly, as though searching.
Searching for me.
My heart thunders harder.
The thought of Daevir finding his son in my presence sends a sharp jolt through me.
He might believe I am capable of anything.
Especially now.
Voices grow louder.
Closer.
Armor clinks faintly down the hall.
I look around desperately, as if there is somewhere to hide him in a cell made of stone and iron.
There is nowhere.
Nowhere at all.
“What will I do?” I whisper under my breath.
Locked in a cell.
With the missing prince standing outside it.