Everything happened in slow motion as she watched Felix retract his hand from Cyrus’ torn ribcage and drop down to his knees. As he slid down, he took Cyrus’ corpse to the floor with him. He had one of his hands under Cyrus’ sprawled body in which he held Cyrus’ slowly beating heart and with the other hand he was gingerly stroking his father’s paler than usual cheeks.

“Father…”

The shocked look on his face slowly melted away as the realization of the situation dawned on him making him go into a trance like state. He didn’t want to kill his father but the loyalty he had sworn to Ares had overridden his senses, making him move faster than he could think. Before he was even able to register what he was doing, his hand had already crushed his father’s heart.

“I’m so sorry, father… so sorry…”

He was rocking his body back and forth, his silver hair swaying to match his motion, barely able to conceal the agonized expression engraved on his face. Blood had collected into the rim of his crimson eyes, but no drop had been able to escape successfully from there due to his lack of blinking.

“Father… Father…”

His trembling lips were continuously letting out small painful cries as his slender pale fingers tapped the jaw of his dead father.

“Imi... pare rau, Tată...”

She couldn’t understand the language he was speaking, probably Romanian, but his disoriented condition was enough to portray that he was still seeking forgiveness for the grave sin he had committed.

He had taken the life of the same person who had travelled seas to bring him back to life.

“Felix.”

Unable to control her urge to comfort the disheveled vampire prince, she moved past Ares to place a hand on Felix’s shoulder.

“It’s alright, Felix. It was not your fault.”

Hearing her voice, Felix’s to and fro movements came to a halt as he slowly turned his head to look at her small figure kneeling beside him.

She felt her breathing stop for a second as she saw how empty his eyes looked. His eyes had seemed cold before, indifferent, when he was facing her in his father’s presence but now they lacked any life to begin with. His frosty gaze was locked onto her gray irises but it appeared to be unfocused as if he were seeing right through her. His face was wiped off of any emotion, no longer showcasing the agony he had been exhibiting priorly. It felt as if she had witnessed another death in that moment.

“It is my fault.”

Putting emphasis on his words, he continued staring lifelessly at her. His impassiveness was pulling at the strings of her heart.

Without thinking it through, she took his face into her small hands, urging him to focus on her words not on the remains of Cyrus in his arms.

“It’s not, okay? It’s not.”

She wanted to make him feel better by any way possible. It was not because she was in love with him. She knew that her heart only belonged to Ares, she had never doubted that. Not even when he had refused to meet her while she was pregnant. She was aware that he had reasons to be suspicious of her credibility. He was betrayed by her and shackled as a stone for centuries. Getting chained for less than two months during her transformation had almost driven her insane. She could only guess what must’ve happened to Ares in that nothingness.

She was angry at him, and she was going to make sure that he faced her wrath for it. He had avoided her, been cold to her, refused to believe her but truthfully if she placed herself in his shoes, she knew she, too, would take her own words with a grain of salt.

She had broken their bond and took an abortifacient in front of him, leaving him to burn and rot in his castle for many years to come.It was a given that he would not start trusting her immediately after that.

“I never learn. Do I?”

Blinking back, she came out of her train of thoughts, finding Felix’s scarlet irises peering into her eyes.

His emotions were spiraling out of control. He was no longer staring lifelessly at her. A look of helplessness had taken its place. He was crumbling.

“Ignorant child”

It took her a moment to realize that he was repeating his father’s last conversation with him.

“Listen to me, Felix,” She said while tightening her hold on Felix’s pale cheeks.

“You are not ignorant. You’ve learned from your mistakes and have become this amazing person who saved my family’s life. I owe it to you. You preferred loyalty and justice over blood. Do you know how hard it is to do that?”

She was stroking his cheeks with the pad of her thumbs while explaining her words to him as if he were a little child,

“You are your mother’s treasure, her precious child. Nothing is your fault. The incident involving Henry, getting turned to stone, not being able to live up to your father’s expectations, not being able to take your mother away from her suffering, taking me away, this… nothing is your fault. You did your best. I’m proud of you.”

She was rambling, blurting out anything that was coming to her mind. She just wanted to pacify that broken man in front of her.

“You’re not alone.”

The familiar voice caused her to whip her head up only to find Ares standing behind Felix.

What shocked her more than the words he uttered was his large hand stroking Felix’s head gently. He looked like an older brother comforting his younger sibling.

Felix didn’t seem to mind Ares’ empathy. If possible, it had only made him appear more vulnerable as he lowered his head, letting a lone drop of blood fall down his eye. Seeing him breaking down like that, no one would have believed him to be the offspring of a powerful pureblood and a royal witch.

“I… I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

“You didn’t need to. He knew how much you loved him.”

Ares’ words incited a small hiccup from Felix. Small crimson drops started streaming down his face as his shoulders dropped with the gravity of the situation weighing down on him. The façade he had been keeping up for centuries, he had finally allowed it to fall. He didn’t have any need to keep pretending to be tough. His father was no longer there to watch him.

“Felix…”

She couldn’t see him like that. He didn’t deserve this. His situation was making her own eyes swell up with tears.

She was busy finding words to console him when she felt a big arm wrap around her shoulders, burying her head in a strong chest. Felix’s head had come closer to her face as well. His silent cries had come to a halt as well.

“You’re not alone. Neither of you are. I’m here, every step of the way.”

She could feel his chest vibrating with each word he reassured both of them with.

That’s when it registered in her head; Ares had cocooned both of them in his embrace.

“Do not let their gazes intimidate you. I’m here every step of the way.”

This promise made to her on their wedding day had become her shield throughout her stay in the medieval times. And the essence of these words on her still hadn’t dimmed down one bit.

She had no idea whether it was the effect of his words or it was just Felix’ stiff body pressed into her side that made her decide on putting everything on her mind to a side and savor this precious moment. Gingerly, she wrapped one arm around Ares’ torso and the other around Felix’s shoulders tightening the embrace the three of them were locked into.

Her actions had proved to relax Felix too. She could guess it by how he had loosened up his stiffened stature and was just leaning his head down, against Ares’ chest. His silver hair had cast a curtain between his face and theirs, making it unable for them to read his expressions. She could only tell as much that he was no longer crying.

“We have to evacuate the castle.”

“Huh?”

Still locked in his arms, she craned her neck to look up into Ares’ eyes inquisitively.

The next words he uttered made her blood run cold.

“They’ve set the castle on fire.”

“Royal guards will evacuate the castle and suppress the rebellion according to their power. Anyone resisting will be put behind the bars. Once done, they’ll set fire to the castle. My lord will hold Cyrus here and make sure that he stays inside as the castle burns to ashes.”

‘The guards!’

Putting both of her fists on his chest, she distanced herself from Ares to have a better look at his face. His usually cold composure was still set in its place. His face was betraying no emotions.

“Get up, both of you. We have to leave.”

His hands that had been wrapped around Faith and Felix slid down their shoulders to grab them both by their arms. His touch was gentle but firm. He was crouching in front of their slumped figures, motioning them both to get up by a little tug in his direction.

There was no movement from Felix. When Ares had hugged him, he had turned Felix away from his father’s corpse, but Cyrus’ cold heart was still resting inside his grasp. That’s what he had been staring at all this time with his head hung low, and he still had his eyes glued to the same piece of flesh.

“Felix…”

Putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, she called out his name.

“We must go, Felix.”

“You go. I’ll stay.”