Chapter 139: Love So Deep And Beautiful
In the dungeon, the beatings had stopped for now. Hadrian chewed on a crust of bread like an animal, his hands still chained. For a man who once felt invincible with a belt in his fist, towering over a shivering twelve-year-old, the loss of those hands should sting more than the shackles themselves. At least, that was what Lorraine believed.
And gods, it was almost funny to see him gnaw like a dog when just yesterday he’d demanded to be treated with dignity.
Her gaze shifted to Elyse. The girl stared blankly at the bread on her plate, a glass of water untouched beside it. She hadn’t lifted a finger. Perhaps that was Lorraine’s fault. After all, when she allowed her a meal previously, she had told Elyse one of the glasses was poisoned. When Elyse, desperate, drank them both and survived, only to be beaten anyway, perhaps something in her finally broke.
Still, she should eat. She couldn’t be allowed to starve. At least, not yet. Lorraine had too much planned for Elyse.
Lorraine glanced at Leroy, expecting his eyes to fall on Elyse too. But he never even looked her way. For some reason, that pricked at Lorraine. It made her happiness multiply. And that happiness did an odd thing.
Pity slipped in where hatred had lived. Maybe... maybe Elyse had suffered enough?
The thought startled her. Was it because Leroy loved her now? Because she was finally at peace herself? Strange, how love made her want to forgive.
Well, almost forgive.
She could forgive many things, but not her father. Never him. Not only had he stolen her mother from her, he had also dared to try and kill her husband. There would be no forgiveness for that man.
Leroy stood before Hadrian’s cell, silent, watchful. Lorraine studied his stance, curious what he wanted from the monster shackled inside.
Hadrian only raised his head once the bread was gone. He knew better that there will be no food until heavens know when. When one of the men entered to clear it away, Hadrian licked the crumbs from the plate and gulped the dregs of water like a dog at its bowl. Only then did he breathe again, chest rattling, body slack. He was so broken now he didn’t even look at Elyse anymore. Whether under a lash or slumped in brief rest, he stared at the filthy stone floor like a hog in its pen.
When he finally noticed a different boot at the bars, his head jerked up. For the first time in days, his swollen eyes widened.
"Leroy?!" The shout scraped out as little more than a hoarse gasp.
He blinked, confusion warring with recognition. Perhaps the beatings had dulled his mind, but not enough to blunt its twisted edge.
"You—!" His teeth ground together, but the motion made his bruised jaw twitch painfully. His face twisted with rage and agony. "It’s you!"
His gaze darted past Leroy, searching, until it found Lazira standing at a distance. His head dropped low, like a beaten beast.
"Why?" he croaked, the sound almost pitiful. "Why would you do this?"
It seemed he believed Leroy was the one who had ordered Lazira to drag him here, to chain him, to break him down.
"What did I ever do to you?"
Lorraine, hidden behind the mask of Lazira, let out a low chuckle. "You conspired with Gaston to kill him. Is it not reason enough?"
Hadrian didn’t even lift his head. He bowed it instead, muttering into the dirt. "She lies..."
"What?" Lazira’s tone sharpened, amused and dangerous. "And as I told you before, I don’t need Leroy to pay me for dragging you here. I have a personal issue with you. I thought you’d have figured it out by now. Still haven’t? What happened to all that cleverness of yours?"
Lorraine almost laughed at the absurdity. Was her father truly that blind? Even with the clues laid bare before him, he still couldn’t fathom that his deaf, mute daughter had been the one clever enough to orchestrate this. Did he really think so little of her? Did it seem so absurd for him that the daughter he wanted dead could run an empire underground?
Hadrian said nothing. In these countless hours, her men had trained him so thoroughly that even Lazira’s voice could make him flinch.
Leroy, however, turned his head to her in astonishment. All this time, he had assumed Lorraine kept Hadrian prisoner because of her mother’s murder. That alone would have been reason enough, and a just one. But this... this was different.
Hadrian tried to kill me.
The thought struck him cold, then warm all at once. Because it was then he understood. The exquisite cruelty of Lorraine’s punishments wasn’t for her mother’s death, nor for the years of torment she endured. This torment was reserved only because Hadrian had dared to try to kill him.
And that realization floored him. His wife, his quiet, merciless little wife, would never forgive anyone who tried to harm him.
Once again, her love for him awed him. Fierce. Terrifying. And beautiful.
"I’ve been tasked by the Emperor to investigate the incident at the arena during the tribute ceremony," Leroy said, his words deliberately clear for Lorraine—and for Hadrian—to hear.
Lorraine’s brows arched. Was the Emperor an idiot? This was like asking the wolf to guard the sheep.
If someone else were to lead the inquiry, the trail would inevitably wind toward Hadrian, Gaston, and... Lazira. And Lazira, the one who had stopped Leroy’s death, would be accused of staying silent, of deliberately allowing the mayhem that claimed the Queen of Corvalith’s life. That would mean a task force formed to hunt Lazira down, and when she was found, her death.
But it wouldn’t stop there.
Hadrian’s involvement would give the Emperor the perfect excuse to snuff out the entire Arvand line. Gaston’s presence would drag Kaltharion into the fire, its royal house branded as traitors. And Leroy, Gaston’s brother, would be punished along with them with his wife.
In any scenario, Lorraine’s life would be forfeit.
She laughed softly. Was this fate toying at her side?
Leroy caught the smile, understood it, but his eyes narrowed. That smile wasn’t for fate. It wasn’t a chance.
The Dowager’s shadow lingered here.
This was her hand at work.
But why? What was the Dowager planning? Was she trying to protect Lorraine like she had promised him? Or... was she had other nefarious plans, trying to trap him?
Hadrian tried to laugh, but the sound caught in his throat and dissolved into a fit of coughing. Even that small act wracked his body. He stayed bowed, head lowered, as though the weight of his shame was enough to crush him.
"Gaston won’t survive," Lorraine said coolly, her voice cutting through the silence. "So, give the Emperor your father-in-law’s head instead," She tilted her mask just slightly, the mockery in her words sharp as glass.
Now that Leroy was the one investigating, it would be too easy, for her to spin the story, to shape the narrative however she pleased.
But Leroy shook his head. "We cannot do that."