Page 92 of Destiny Redeemed
“Your Highness! Forgive me, I—” His gaze swept over Anderic’s common clothes, confusion evident. “What brings you to the fringes in such… unusual attire?”
“Rise, Commander. I’m here on sensitive business.” Anderic’s voice carried an authority that transformed him before my eyes. Gone was the spoiled prince who’d bickered with me at the gate. In his place stood the heir to Aetheria. “This is Lady Ilyana D’Arcane, my… advisor in this matter.” He paused, his lips curving into a slight smile. “And my betrothed.”
Betrothed?I momentarily forgot about my panic. After our fight at the house, after everything I’d told him that he didn’t believe, after the arrows and the blood and the silence between us on our journey here—thiswas what he chose to say? We’dnever even discussed marriage. The audacity of this man never ceased to amaze me.
Maxwell’s eyes snapped to me with renewed interest, and my breath caught in my throat for an entirely different reason.He doesn’t recognize me. Of course he doesn’t—in this timeline, I never came to the fringes.But seeing those cold eyes studying me sent ice through my veins all the same.
“Lady D’Arcane?” Maxwell repeated, his brow furrowing. “Elyas D’Arcane’s daughter? And the prince’s intended?”
I forced myself to curtsy, fighting to keep my expression neutral despite the storm of confusion and fear raging inside me. “Commander.” My voice somehow remained steady, though I could feel Anderic’s gaze on me, daring me to contradict him.
“We need to discuss intelligence regarding potential enemy movements near the border,” Anderic continued smoothly. “In private.”
Maxwell nodded briskly, dismissing his guards with a flick of his wrist. They retreated to the tunnel entrance, leaving us alone in the torchlit chamber.
“What intelligence, Your Highness? My reports show nothing unusual.”
As Anderic launched into a fabricated story about suspicious activity, my vision began to swim. Maxwell’s voice faded in and out, replaced by echoes from my past life.
“Tell me what you’ve been feeding to the enemy!”
I blinked hard, trying to focus on the present, but the memories came faster.
The flash of steel. Sebastian’s wide, shocked eyes. Blood pooling on our dirt floor.
My chest constricted painfully. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. The torches on the wall seemed to flare brighter, then dim.
“Then you die a liar as well as a traitor.”
“Lady D’Arcane?” Maxwell’s voice cut through the fog. “Are you unwell?”
I looked up to find both men staring at me. Maxwell’s face blurred, transforming between the man before me and the executioner of my nightmares.
“I—” My voice strangled in my throat. “Excuse me.”
Without another word, I turned and fled, ignoring Anderic’s startled call behind me. I pushed past the guards, stumbling through the tunnels, desperate for air.
The cold hit me like a physical blow when I burst outside. I gulped it down, my lungs burning, but kept moving. Away from the mines. Away from Maxwell. Away from the memories that threatened to drown me.
I didn’t know how long I walked, my mind a chaotic whirl of past and present. Snow had begun to fall, dusting my hair and cloak with white. My teeth chattered, but I barely noticed the cold.
When I finally stopped, I found myself on a narrow, overgrown path that I knew all too well. The path to our hut—where my family had lived and died. Where I had died.
The realization sent me crumbling to my knees in the snow. I crouched there, arms wrapped around myself, trying to breathe through the panic that clawed at my throat.
It wasn’t real. Not yet. They’re still alive. I can still save them.
I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes, fighting back tears. What a fool I was, thinking I could face Maxwell without falling apart. How was I supposed to change anything when I couldn’t even hold myself together?
“Pull yourself together,” I whispered fiercely, rubbing my freezing face. “You can’t save anyone if you’re a sobbing mess.”
The sound of someone crashing through the underbrush jerked me from my thoughts. I looked up to see Anderic racing toward me, his golden curls wild, his face a mask of concern.
“Ilyana!” he called, his voice hoarse. “Thank God.”
He skidded to a stop before me, dropping to his knees in the snow. His hands hovered uncertainly before gripping my shoulders.
“What happened back there? I’ve been searching everywhere!” His eyes scanned my face, wide with worry. “You’re frozen. How long have you been out here?”
