Chapter 214 An End She Chased

Chapter 214 An End She Chased
Adrian’s POV

I closed the bedroom door softly behind me, careful not to disturb Kira. The click was barely audible before I began heading downstairs.

Thomas was waiting for me in one of the lower halls. The moment I arrived, I knew something was off. 

The air felt heavier…like chaos was waiting for the right time to erupt.

I looked around confused until my eyes landed on her and I froze.

Lady Margaret lay sprawled across the cold marble floor, her body bent at an angle no living person should ever hold. 

A dark pool of blood spread beneath her, staining the pale stone in crimson.

For a long moment, I simply stared.
Not because I mourned her. Not because I was shocked.

But because after everything…the betrayals, the lies, the destruction she had helped unleash…this was somehow not how I had imagined her story would end.

"What happened to her?" I finally asked, my eyes never leaving her motionless form.

Thomas stepped forward, his expression grim.
"Your Majesty, I didn't witness it myself, but several of the men saw what happened. They believe she tried to escape during the battle and join forces with Ariston and his queen."

His gaze flickered briefly toward the corpse before returning to me.

"She was heading in the direction where you were confronting them. But..." He hesitated. "Without her hands and with her body already weakened, she couldn't move fast enough."

The hall fell quiet except for the distant sounds of maids rounding up for the night.

"Some of the rogues knocked her down," Thomas continued. "Once she hit the ground, she couldn't get back up. The battle ground was too chaotic. Rogues were running everywhere. They said she was trampled repeatedly while the battle raged around her."

Silence settled between us.
I looked down at Lady Margaret's lifeless face and found that I didn't know what I was supposed to feel.

Pity?
Regret?
Satisfaction?
None of them seemed quite right.

When I came back and was told that Kira had severed her arms, I had genuinely believed that was the end of her punishment. 

It seemed fitting. A woman whose greed had reached so far beyond her grasp would spend the rest of her life confronting the consequences of her choices. Every day would be a reminder of what ambition without loyalty had cost her.

I had intended to let her live.

To let her wake each morning and face the ruins she had made of her own life.

But apparently even that had not been enough.
Even broken. Even disgraced. Even stripped of everything she had schemed for.

She had still chosen betrayal.
Still chosen to side with Ariston. Still chosen the very people who had helped drag the kingdom into bloodshed.

A bitter laugh nearly escaped me.
How remarkable.

Most people learn from suffering. Lady Margaret had treated it like a challenge.

She had looked at ruin and somehow found a way to make herself even worse.

In the end, justice hadn't claimed her. An executioner's blade hadn't found her neck.

No.
Lady Margaret had died exactly as she had lived…chasing treachery so blindly that she never saw her own destruction coming until it was already crushing her beneath its feet.

Thomas stepped closer as he continued. “The doctor tried to save her when her body was retrieved, but she kept ranting that the throne was hers. Said she’d rather die than not have it.” He shrugged. “So death came and collected what she owed.”

My eyes shifted to Levi, who stood a few feet away staring at his mother’s corpse. For the first time in a long while, I actually felt pity for him. The man looked exhausted.

I expected to see sadness, maybe hatred toward me, or even guilt. But Levi’s face was completely blank. 

Then he exhaled…long and deep…like a man who had been holding his breath underwater for years and was finally allowed to surface.

People grieve differently, I reminded myself. She was still his mother, after all.

Thomas cleared his throat. “What should we do with the body, Your Majesty?”

I waited, secretly expecting Levi to speak. He didn’t.
I walked over to him. Before I could say anything, Levi shook his head slowly.

“Just bury her wherever. I don’t want her shadow hanging over my life anymore.”

There was real peace in his voice. No performance. No hidden agenda. Just quiet finality. I could only wonder what was truly going on in his head at that moment.

I studied him carefully. “Are you sure? She’s your mother. Everything she did… it was supposedly for you.”

Levi shook his head again. “It wasn’t. I got so used to her shadow hanging around my neck all my life that I didn't learn how to truly live for myself,” he said, a little sad smile spreading across his face. 

“I tried talking to her one last time, you know,” he continued. “To get her to change. But she’s filled with too much hate and resentment. She only wanted me to wear the crown so she could rule through me. It was never about me. It was always about her.”

I exhaled and nodded in understanding. Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is let someone go.

I gave the signal. Warriors moved forward and carefully carried Margaret’s body away.

As Levi turned to leave, I called out, “It’s going to take time… but I hope we can sit down and have a drink one day.”

Levi paused, then offered a small, genuine smile. “I would like that, Your Majesty,” he said. Then he walked away without looking back.

Thomas stepped up beside me just then. “The little gifts have been prepared and sent to Tristen Ravenwood.

The entrance has been cleared. No traces of the invasion left.”

I nodded. Maybe this will help my father-in-law forgive me. Maybe handing over the people responsible for destroying his life will finally make him accept me.

“Have there been reports from the human camp? Are they all safe?” I asked.

Thomas opened his mouth to respond when a sharp gasp echoed down the hallway.

We turned at the same time towards the source.
Jasmine…Thomas’s mate…stood there, breathless like she had sprinted the entire way. One hand pressed to her chest as her wide eyes ran up and down Thomas’s blood-covered body. Tears clouded her gaze immediately.

Seeing her like that made me miss my own queen upstairs even more. I started turning away to give them privacy.

Jasmine rushed forward and threw herself into Thomas’s arms, sobbing. “Oh my God, are you hurt? Why is there so much blood on you?”

I caught the slight, mischievous grin on Thomas’s face as he wrapped his arms around her and pretended like he was in pain. 

Horny asshole.

I shook my head and began walking back upstairs, giving final orders through the mind-link for everything to be put in proper order.

I’m sure Thomas is going to complete the marking process with her tonight. No doubt about it. That horny bastard won’t let that poor girl out of his bed till morning.

I reached our chambers quickly, slipped into the bathroom, and washed the remaining blood and grime off my body. When I returned to the bedroom, the sight of Kira curled up in my shirt made something warm settle deep in my chest.

I climbed into bed and gathered her close, pulling her against me. She nuzzled into my chest instinctively, muttering sleepy, incoherent words about being a “real-life warrior princess.” My hand splayed protectively over her belly, gently stroking where our pup was growing.

I couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

Tonight went better than I could have hoped. The threats were eliminated. My queen was safe in my arms. Our future was finally starting to feel secure.

With that comforting thought, I drifted off beside her, breathing in her scent and holding my entire world close.