Chapter 231 Isn't She Just A Pawn?

Chapter 231 Isn't She Just A Pawn?
Rhaedon

My head felt clearer than it had in a long while as I slowly peeled my eyes open. The first thing that greeted me was the familiar ceiling of my chambers. Then came the whispers, hushed and thick with worry.
“He's been out for quite a while. Are you certain nothing's wrong with him, Madam Emery?”
I recognized Lars's voice without even looking.
“He's fine. Better than he's been in a long while, if you ask me.”
Emery's voice followed, and I turned my head toward them, my gaze settling on their backs.
Only two backs.
My temple throbbed as the memory I'd recalled came rushing back with such vividness that there was no way it could have been a mere dream.
The feeling of Aveline's lifeless body in my arms. The sticky warmth of her blood against my skin. The emotions her words had stirred inside me. The agonizing pain that had torn through my chest when the light left her eyes.
All of it washed over me at once.
“Where is she?” My voice came out strained.
Both Lars and Emery turned toward me at once.
“Your Highness!”
Lars was at my bedside within seconds, with Emery following close behind.
I started pushing myself upright, but Emery's hand immediately landed on my shoulder, gently forcing me back against the mattress.
“You need to rest. Your condition might be looking positive, but your body took quite the hit, Your Highness.”
She eased me back onto the bed, but my gaze had already drifted toward the window.
The sky outside had darkened.
“How long have I been out?”
“Three hours, Your Highness.” Lars answered as he offered me a glass of water, but I paid it no mind.
Instead, my eyes swept across the room again.
There was no trace of Aveline. Not even the slightest hint of her pheromones.
Was she not back yet?
A hollow sensation settled in my chest, and my fingers tightened around the bedsheets.
“Where's Aveline?”
I turned my gaze toward Lars.
A flicker of something crossed his eyes.
“Alpha Rhaedon—”
“Where's my wife?”
The words came out sharper this time, leaving no room for evasion.
His hand flinched around the glass, and he lowered his gaze.
“Luna Aveline… is yet to return.”
His voice held a tentative edge.
“Rowan has stepped out in search of her, along with Lachlan and Bernie. They returned an hour ago without any report of her whereabouts.”
Something in my chest twisted unpleasantly.
I didn't stay still long enough to process what it meant.
“Your Highness,” Emery protested as I threw the blanket aside and rose to my feet.
“You're not fully recovered, Your Highness. Please, rest.”
I ignored her and headed straight for my closet.
“Ready my horse, Lars.”
“Understood.”
His footsteps hurried away, followed by the soft thud of the door closing behind him.
I grabbed a plain white shirt from the closet, hearing Emery sigh behind me.
“Rhaedon.”
Her voice had lost its usual professionalism now that we were alone.
“Please, reason with your actions before you embark on them.”
“I have.”
The answer came matter-of-factly as I pulled the shirt over my head.
But then I walked past the mirror and stopped.
My gaze dropped to the reflection of my lower back, where there had once been nothing but clear skin.
Now, a familiar pattern marked it.
A singular red rose wrapped in thorns, its edges raised slightly as though the image had been burned into my flesh. The skin around it was flushed red, the mark stark against my skin.
My gaze lingered on it for a long moment.
So she hadn't been lying.
The thought surfaced as my mind drifted back to the final minutes I'd spent inside that burning house—to those silver eyes that had stared at me with an eerie calm, as though they had never committed a single wrong.
She had laughed after hearing my answer.
The sound had filled the air, yet once again, her lips hadn't moved.
“Even without your bond and memories, you're still the same.”
Those words had been spoken with the satisfaction of a devoted researcher admiring the outcome of an experiment.
Then, with a single snap of her fingers, everything stopped.
The fire.
The distant screams.
Even my own desperate cry from behind me.
Silence swallowed it all.
Then she stepped closer.
“Will you really trade your bond again? Or will you keep it and face the misfortune that shall befall you both in yet another life, together?”
Her silver eyes remained fixed on mine.
“The choice is yours, Rhaedon Ashkaar.”
Her final words still echoed clearly in my mind.
And as I stared at the mark on my back, there was no denying which choice I'd made.
So, by some twist of fate, Aveline was my mate.
“Our mate,” Dmitri corrected.
My eyes narrowed faintly.
“Rhaedon.” Emery's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
I quickly threw my shirt on and turned to face her. She opened her mouth, but after a moment, she simply exhaled.
“You're not going to listen to me, are you?”
I remained silent.
Taking that as my answer, she stepped closer.
“Isn't she just a pawn in all this? Why must you risk yourself?”
Her words caught me slightly off guard.
She knew.
Of course she knew.
What else did I expect from my late mother's closest friend and a distant relative of my father?
But there was one thing she'd gotten wrong.
“Aveline is my wife and mate.”
The words left me without hesitation.
Something flickered across her face—realization, perhaps, followed by understanding.
Then she sighed again, this time in defeat.
“You want to be as stubborn as Amaris? Then go ahead.”
I didn't waste another second.
I turned and headed toward the door.
“Rhaedon.”
Her voice stopped me just as I reached it.
I paused and glanced over my shoulder.
Emery stood before the window, rain pouring heavily beyond the glass. A small smile curved the edges of her lips.
“Be careful out there… please.”
I held her gaze for a long moment, then gave her a silent nod before stepping through the door.
“Shall I locate her?” Dmitri asked as I trotted down the hallway, and without hesitation, I answered.
“Find her.”