Chapter 90 He has a history here
Why didn’t you ask for me? Why didn't you look at me, even for a second?" Ezra asked. His eyes filled with tears that stayed trapped in his lashes.
The pain of not being chosen felt like a heavy weight, crushing his chest. It was getting hard to breathe. To Ezra, the very air in the room felt sharp, like it was cutting through his sentinels the guards he had built to keep his heart safe. One by one, those guards were falling.
He watched her closely, and it hurt. Every breath she took seemed to be saved for Orion. Every soft word she spoke was a gift she only gave to him. Ezra stood right there. He was breaking apart, watching her give everything to someone else while he was left with nothing but the cold air.
"I am concerned about you, Ezra. You are standing right here in front of me—how could I be thinking badly of you?" she asked. She gave him a small, polite smile. She didn't want to be mean; she didn't want to hurt anyone at all.
But her kindness felt like ice to him. "Then why him?" Ezra asked, stepping closer. His voice was shaking now. He was becoming desperate. He didn't just want her pity; he wanted her love back. He wanted the same fire she used to have for him, the same look in her eyes.
Seeing her give that affection to someone else was crushing him.
"This is your kingdom, Ezra. You are safe here," she said softly, trying to calm him. "But he is not. Tell me—have you killed him?" She looked away as she spoke, hoping her words would soothe his anger and the resentment burning in his eyes. She still couldn't bear to see him suffer, even now.
"I killed him..."
His reply was brutal, cutting through the air like a blade. But as the words left his lips, Esperanza didn't pull away. She looked for the truth behind his voice. She could feel the uncertainty hiding in his tone, like a shadow.
"Stop lying," Esperanza retorted, her voice snapping like a whip. The softness was gone, replaced by a sharp clarity that made Ezra smirk. He didn't flinch; if anything, her anger felt more honest than her polite smiles ever did.
"Your behavior is unusual. Why are you so jealous of him?" she asked, her brow furrowing in a deep frown. She looked at him as if he were a puzzle she no longer wanted to solve.
Ezra didn't answer right away. Instead, he sneered, the expression twisting his face into something dark and unrecognizable. He stepped even closer, his shadow falling over her. He had claimed to kill the man she loved, yet here she was, still defending Orion’s memory, still demanding answers for a man who wasn't there.
His jealousy wasn't just about Orion being alive or dead; it was about the fact that even in silence,
"What? Is anything wrong with that?" Ezra questioned back. He leaned into her space, his voice dropping to a dangerous, low hum.
"Tell me, what have I even asked of you?" Esperanza countered, her eyes narrowing as she studied his face. "I know you are lying, Ezra. I can feel it."
Ezra didn't flinch. Instead, a slow, dark smirk spread across his lips. It was the look of a man who had already lost everything and had nothing left to fear.
"So what if I am?" he replied, his tone mocking. "What are you going to do about it? Are you going to burn me with your golden fire, Esperanza? Will you destroy me because I killed him?"
She didn't give him the explosive reaction he wanted. Instead, she simply rolled her eyes, the gesture so dismissive it hurt worse than if she had actually struck him. To her, his life-and-death drama was becoming exhausting.
The tension in the room finally snapped, replaced by a cold, weary understanding. Esperanza didn't look relieved; she just looked exhausted. The weight of his games had pushed her past the point of heartbreak and straight into irritation. She had reached her limit.
"He is alright," Ezra finally admitted, his voice losing its brutal edge. He looked at her, his eyes searching hers for a flicker of the devotion he used to own. "He is someone you want to live. How could I ever let him die?"
It wasn't a gesture of kindness; it was a confession of his own defeat. He realized that killing Orion wouldn't make her love him it would only make her hate him forever. He was trapped by her desires, forced to protect the very man who was stealing his place.
"That is what I expected," Esperanza replied. Her voice was flat, devoid of the warmth or the "golden fire" he had tried to provoke. She didn't thank him. She didn't hug him. She simply acknowledged the truth as if it were a foregone conclusion.
Ezra gave a slow, solemn nod.
The silence that followed was heavier than their argument had been. He had kept Orion alive to please her, but in doing so, he had officially accepted his role as the one standing in the shadows, watching her heart belong to someone else.
"He is with his long lost father," Ezra said. The words came out slowly, as if he were finally releasing a secret that had been weighing him down for years.
Esperanza froze. The irritation that had been on her face just moments ago was wiped away by a wave of shock. She looked more scared now than when he had claimed to be a killer.
The mystery of Orion’s past was suddenly unraveling, and the reality was more than she was prepared for.
"He was... He was in this castle all along?" she asked. Her voice hesitated, trembling as she looked around the stone walls of Ezra's kingdom.
It felt as if the very ground beneath her feet had become unfamiliar.
"I only just found out about him myself," Ezra said, his voice quiet but firm. He stepped back, giving her space to process the news. "He is not alone in this world anymore. You have to think about him differently now. He has a history here. He has a father. He isn't the person you thought he was."
Ezra watched her, seeing the way her mind was racing. He had kept Orion alive, but by reuniting him with his father, he had changed the map of their lives forever. Orion wasn't just a rival anymore; he was a piece of the kingdom’s bloodline, and that truth was more dangerous than any lie Ezra could have told.