40

The evening is calm.

Excessively silent.

The palace slumbers, yet I am unable to relax. My body is sore from training, my mind is racing with all I discovered in the documents, and tomorrow—tomorrow I will battle for it all.

For my location. For my kids. For the reality.

For retribution.

I sit on the balcony near my room, gazing at the moonlit skyline. The chilly night breeze touches my skin, providing no relief for the blaze raging within me. My hands grip the stone railing, stabilizing myself under the burden of it all.

Then, I sense him.

I can't hear his footsteps, yet it's unnecessary.

Liam’s existence is unmistakable.

I remain facing forward as he enters the moonlight, halting a short distance behind me.

A quiet stillness lies between us, heavy with unsaid thoughts.

"You ought to be resting," he eventually states, his voice softer than normal.

I let out a brief, humorless chuckle. "I might express the same to you."

He does not dispute.

Rather, he approaches nearer. Not sufficient for contact, yet enough that the gap between us seems too limited.

I prepare myself. For an additional alert. For a different reason as to why I shouldn't engage in a fight, why I ought to allow him to take care of Kyle, and why I should just walk away.

However, he expresses something different.

Something I don't anticipate.

"I always continued searching for you."

My breath halts.

Gradually, I pivot to confront him.

His face is inscrutable, his jaw clenched, his stormy gray eyes fixed on me.

"Don't deceive me," I murmur.

Because I can’t endure another falsehood. Not following all that.

Liam breathes out forcefully, raking his fingers through his hair, his calm beginning to break for the first time. "I’m being honest, Nina." His voice is coarse, unrefined. "I looked for you." I—” He pauses, as though the words cause him physical pain. "Before I understood what Lisa had done, you had already left."

I gulp nervously, my heart thumping inside my chest. "Nevertheless, you allowed me to leave."

Liam winces.

He does not refute it.

The truth lies between us, weighty and unyielding.

For many years, I resented him because of it.

For prioritizing obligation over me. For allowing me to endure pain. For making me think I was merely an error.

However, being here, burdened by his admission, I’m unsure if hatred is all that remains.

Because the way he gazes at me now— as if I’m the sole significant loss he’s ever experienced— it stirs something profound within me.

An issue I'm unsure how to halt.

However, it is too late.

Since tomorrow, I battle.

And this evening, the past refuses to release me.

The evening atmosphere is heavy with unease, the sort that clings to my skin, wrapping around my torso like an unseen bond.

Liam stands in front of me, his face intense, his storm-gray eyes deeper than the darkness.

"I continued searching for you."

The words hang in the air between us, more weighty than the silence that ensues.

I'm unsure of what I anticipated him to say upon discovering me here. A caution? Is this another effort to get me to withdraw from the challenge? A reminder of every reason I ought to feel fear?

Not that.

Not him—standing here, exposed in a manner he rarely is, allowing the flaws in his defenses to become visible.

"Don't deceive me." My voice is only a soft murmur, yet it slices through the distance between us like a knife.

Liam breathes out sharply, his fingers running through his dark hair, his jaw tightening as if he’s suppressing something—something that could shatter him if he allows it to escape.

"I'm telling the truth, Nina." His voice is raspy, jagged around the sides. "By the time I understood what Lisa had done, you were already gone." I looked for you. For several years. I pursued leads, questioned miscreants, dispatched scouts beyond the borders—anything, everything. "But you vanished like mist."

I compel myself to breathe steadily, despite my heart thumping painfully against my chest.

I do not wish to trust him.

I find it hard to trust him.

For if I do, I must confront the chance that he wasn’t merely the man who set me free—that perhaps, in some distorted manner, he attempted to locate me.

And I’m unsure if I can manage to live with that.

Liam moves his head side to side, his mouth forming a narrow line before he talks once more.

"I acted like a fool."

His voice is softer now, but that doesn’t diminish the impact of the words.

"I trusted them." I trusted what they said to me. I thought you departed due to your weakness. That you fled because you weren’t meant to be by my side. "That it was your decision."

His throat moves up and down, and when he talks again, it’s nearly fractured.

"Yet I never ceased to miss you."

I don’t notice I’m breathless until I exhale slowly and shakily.

I ought to express something.

I ought to distance myself from him, inform him that it’s too late, that his regrets are meaningless after all this duration.

But for the first time—I do not.

I simply remain still, sensing the heaviness of his words embed themselves in my bones, pushing against old scars that never completely mended.

Liam observes me, patiently anticipating.

In the case of a denial. For a quick comeback. For me to inform him that everything is insignificant.

However, I remain silent.

Since tomorrow, everything will be different.

Tomorrow, I battle.

For my location.

For my kids.

For the reality.

And possibly—just possibly—for my own sake.

“