Chapter 229 Remember Now, Rhaedon

Chapter 229 Remember Now, Rhaedon
~Rhaedon~

Shatter!
The sound of a teacup hitting the floor camouflaged the sharp crack of thunder that had just rumbled through the sky. A maid stood frozen in front of me, her eyes wide with visible fear and panic as my gaze settled on her.
"Please forgive me, Alpha Rhaedon!" she cried out in fright, dropping into a deep bow.
The teapot on the tray in her hands rattled as if it, too, wanted to join the broken teacup on the floor.
The sound irritated me.
I closed my eyes, resisting the urge to massage my temple. I'd developed a splitting headache out of nowhere, and the throbbing seemed to grow harder with every passing second, especially now that the cup had shattered.
“Perhaps you need rest,” Dmitri said in my mind. “You've been seated here for hours.”
I peeled my eyes open and glanced at the clock.
True to what Dmitri had just said, I'd been handling these files for hours. It was already well into dinner time.
…Yet Aveline wasn't back.
The thought surfaced, and for a moment, an uncomfortable tightness settled in my chest.
I exhaled gently, choosing not to dwell on it.
"Get out," I instructed.
The maid's head snapped up, and I could see the relief very clearly in her eyes and posture.
She immediately bent down, gathering the broken pieces of the teacup before offering a bow and hurrying out.
The moment she was gone, I linked Rowan.
“Come to my study, Rowan.”
After that, I shut the link, and this time, I couldn't stop myself—my brows creased as the ache in my head intensified.
A flare-up from my Aether Frost Syndrome? I wondered.
I didn't think so.
There were no flashes of cold or that familiar sensation of my insides frosting over. This just felt like… something was being pulled from my head and traveling throughout my body.
Even Dmitri could feel it. I knew from the way he was restless, despite his attempts to keep me from feeling it through our connection.
My brows furrowed faintly.
It felt like I'd experienced something like this before.
When?
The sound of a knock at the door pulled my attention away.
"Enter," I called.
The door opened, and Rowan walked in, his injured hand now wrapped in gauze. He bowed when he reached my table, then straightened.
"You called, Alpha Rhaedon."
"Where's Lachlan and Bernie?" I asked, giving in to the urge to rub my temple.
"I'm yet to get word from them."
My hand stilled, and my gaze met Rowan's before flickering toward the clock.
"They've been gone for a whole hour, and you haven't heard anything?" I asked, my voice sharp.
As if realizing how that sounded, Rowan lowered his gaze.
"I apologize, Alpha Rhaedon. I'll leave at once and make sure Luna Aveline is brought back at once."
He paused before adding, "But, do you need me to get Madam Emery?" he asked, faint concern dancing across his expression.
Was the discomfort that obvious on my face?
"That won't be necessary," I said and rose from my chair.
After several hours in it, perhaps Dmitri was right. Perhaps I needed a moment of rest.
"Go find Aveline and bring her back at once. Once you've—"
The rest of my words were interrupted as a sudden, sharp pain bloomed in my chest.
The pain was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. Not even stab wounds or injuries sustained through torture on the battlefield could measure up to it.
Gripping the edge of the table, I bent over, and the next second—
"Khh—koff!"
A harsh cough ripped from my throat before I could stop it.
I clutched my chest as another followed right after, my lungs burning with every cough as the familiar coppery smell flooded my senses, thick enough to taste at the back of my throat.
"Alpha Rhaedon!"
Rowan's concerned voice became muffled as, for a second, everything around me swayed.
I raised a hand and pressed it against my nose.
When I pulled back, my eyes landed on my fingers, coated with black blood.
…That… wasn't right.
The pain suddenly doubled in my chest before I could settle on the thought.
"Urgh," I grunted, my hold on the table slipping.
My knee crumpled to the ground, and a shard from the broken glass earlier dug into my flesh, but the pain barely registered—not when my insides felt as though they were being twisted and forcefully pulled out of me by some invisible force.
A sharp yelp ripped through my mind, followed by a wave of agony that wasn't mine.
Dmitri was suffering too.
"Alpha Rhaedon!"
Rowan was beside me now, but his voice was muffled by the next wave of pain that left me feeling as though I couldn't breathe. As though something deep inside me were being ripped away, slowly and mercilessly, piece by piece.
Suddenly my body grew heavy and my senses began to dull around me.
The pain was still there, pulsing through every inch of my body, but even that seemed to be fading beneath the darkness steadily creeping over my consciousness.
My eyelids grew impossibly heavy. I fought to keep them open, clinging desperately to the last threads of awareness, but consciousness slipped further and further from my grasp with each wave of pain, until, eventually, I could no longer hold on.
My surroundings tilted with my body and the last thing I heard was Rowan calling out Lars’ name right before darkness swallowed me whole.
For a while, there was nothing.
No pain.
No sound.
Nothing.
Then, somewhere within the darkness, a voice emerged.
“Poor child…”
The voice was soft, almost pitying.
“You're suffering so much because of a deal you made.”
Silence followed, before the voice spoke again, quieter this time, as though it had come to a decision.
“Perhaps, just this once, I'll be merciful.”
Another pause followed, accompanied by the strange sensation of cold fingers pressing against my forehead.
Then the voice spoke once more, its words carrying a weight that my disoriented mind could not understand.
“Remember now, Rhaedon Ashkaar… and carry your burden.”