Chapter 191: For the Kingdom, For the Mother, and For You, My love.

Fifteen years ago...

Helios watched Kaelis leave his hiding spot, but...he wasn’t satisfied.

’Who are you trying to meet so badly?’

That was the question sitting in his mind as he remained hidden, his narrowed eyes following the direction Kaelis had gone earlier that week over and over again.

Helios assumed it was some poor girl.

Some helpless little street girl, Kaeli,s probably thought it was cute, someone he decided to feed like a stray dog because it made him feel better about his miserable life.

Because that was the kind of person Kaelis was.

Soft.

Pathetic. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Always trying to save things.

And honestly?

Even that annoyed Helios.

Eveame poor, scrappy girl wasn’t allowed to make Kaelis happy.

Kaelis was never allowed to have anything good.

He was too unfortunate for that.

And Helios made sure of it.

He would continue making sure of it for the rest of Kaelis’ life if he had to.

So, because of curiosity and because he couldn’t stand the thought of Kaelis secretly treasuring something, Helios decided to use the little trinket he had taken earlier.

Kaelis’ pendant.

His mother’s pendant.

Helios held it up carelessly between his fingers, letting the gemstone catch the sunlight as he walked through the alley like bait, hoping some desperate fool would notice it.

And of course they did.

A group of older teenagers.

Street rats.

Thin from hunger but large enough to feel brave, circling him without realizing who he actually was because they were too distracted by the expensive pendant hanging from his hand.

’Idiots.’

Helios almost laughed.

’I’ll just have them executed if things get too far.’

Truthfully, he didn’t entirely know how he wanted this to play out.

He only knew he wanted to see what Kaelis was hiding.

He assumed whoever the street urchin girl was would at least recognize the thieves.

Or better yet—

She’d come running for the bread again and get herself caught up in the mess.

That would solve Helios’ problem for him.

No need to dirty his own hands.

The plan was foolproof.

Or at least he thought it was.

So Helios acted.

He shouted weakly, forcing panic into his voice.

"Please!"

He stumbled backward dramatically, even throwing himself onto the ground at one point, acting every bit like some clueless noble child who had wandered too far from safety.

It was irritating.

Humiliating even.

But effective.

The thieves got bolder immediately.

Helios could sense someone nearby now.

Another presence.

Close enough to hear everything.

He wanted to look, but the thieves kept crowding him, blocking his view.

’What is the little rat going to do?’ Helios thought, continuing the act despite how badly he already wanted to end it.

He waited.

Pretended.

Kept up the pathetic little performance.

At some point, Helios started getting annoyed.

Actually annoyed.

He was seconds away from just killing the thieves himself and ending the whole thing—

Until—

"HEY!"

A voice shouted.

Small.

Young.

And...Male?

Every thief immediately turned toward the sound.

Helios did too.

And honestly—

He expected disappointment.

Some ugly, dirty child.

Someone forgettable.

Someone not worth his attention.

But then he saw him.

And Helios froze.

’Who is that?’

His eyes widened before he could stop himself.

A boy.

Around their age, maybe slightly younger.

His face was pale despite living under the harsh sunlight.

His messy pale hair framed sharp, delicate features that looked almost out of place in an alley like this.

And then there were his eyes.

Those pink eyes.

Bright and clear.

Fierce and full of life.

Beautiful enough to look unreal.

Like jewels hidden somewhere filthy.

Helios couldn’t stop staring.

’He’s...beautiful.’

Present...

"Ezra...Ezra...what happened?"

Helios whispers the words brokenly under his breath as he stumbles back into his palace chambers, the doors slamming shut behind him loud enough to echo.

His legs nearly gave out the moment he was alone.

He catches himself against the edge of a table before he could actually collapse to the floor, his breathing uneven, sharp, like every inhale hurt going in.

He almost couldn’t breathe.

Ezra’s expression kept replaying in his mind over and over again.

That cold look.

That anger.

That disgust.

The way Ezra looked at him lwas ike he didn’t know him anymore.

Like, Helios was someone horrible.

’No...’

Helios immediately shakes his head roughly, stumbling toward the mirror across the room as if forcing himself to focus on something else.

Anything else.

But even there—

Even staring directly at his own reflection—

All he could see was Ezra.

Helios stopped in front of the mirror, staring at himself wide-eyed.

His lips were parted slightly.

His chest is rising too fast.

"You’re my everything...I did everything for you...I changed...everything for you, you don’t even know...."

His voice came out barely above a whisper.

Weak.

Almost desperate.

And to Helios’ own horror—

His eyes burned.

Tears slowly prickled in his vision.

He hadn’t cried in years.

Not since—

Since Ezra disappeared for a year.

Since Helios realized Ezra was gone, there was nothing he could do about it.

No way to track him.

No way to pull him back.

Just endless thoughts eating away at him every night.

Who was with Ezra?

Why was he away?

Did he meet someone else?

Did someone else see Ezra the way Helios did?

That face.

That smile.

That warmth.

Helios hated even imagining it.

The thought made him sick.

Made him furious.

He hated it so much that he ruined an entire kingdom trying to force Ezra back home.

Trying to drag Ezra back to him.

"It was supposed to be just about being king, Ezra. My jewel."

Helios stares into the mirror as he speaks, but slowly, his own reflection starts becoming distorted in his mind.

Because instead of himself—

He saw Ezra.

Ezra smiled at him softly.

Distorted.

Blurred around the edges.

But still smiling.

"I just started it because I wanted to be king," Helios whispers shakily, like he was confessing directly to him. "I wanted to avenge my mother, I did everything out of love for my mother and my kingdom."

His breathing hitched painfully.

"But then I met you."

The words came out quieter now.

Rawer.

"When I met you...it changed...it changed into making sure you and I...we get to live as king and queen, you and me, no Aurien, no Kaelis, no father...just us."

The tear finally slipped down his face.

Helios didn’t even notice it at first.

"I had to lie, Ezra."

His voice broke completely this time.

The sound cracked apart halfway through the sentence.

"So please don’t be mad...please..."

His hand slowly lifted toward the mirror.

Toward Ezra’s face.

"Don’t look at me like that."

But Ezra’s expression changed again.

The smiling face Helios desperately tried to hold onto twisted into anger.

Coldness.

Disappointment.

Helios’ breathing immediately became rougher.

"No..."

He tried forcing the image back.

Tried imagining Ezra smiling again.

Looking at him lovingly again.

But every single time—

It changed.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Helios’ chest hurt.

Actually hurt.

"I did everything for you, Ezra," Helios whispers frantically now, tears falling faster down his face. "It was all for you. Everything...is all for you...no, don’t look at me like that, don’t—"

In his mind, Ezra turned away from him.

Helios felt panic explode inside his chest.

He wanted to grab him.

Pull him back.

Force him to stay.

And then—

SMASH.

Helios slammed his fist straight through the mirror.

The glass shattered violently across the room.

Sharp cracks echoed through the chambers as broken pieces rained onto the floor.

Helios stood there breathing heavily, blood dripping from his hand onto the shattered glass below, his chest rising rapidly as he stared at his ruined reflection.

And even then—

Even after destroying it—

He could still see Ezra turning away from him.

"I’ve wanted to tell you everything for so long...but..."

Deep inside, he knew Ezra wouldn’t accept it.

But that didn’t mean Helios would stop.

After all, he had been planning this since he was nothing but a child.