Chapter CXXXIV: Sure
When Alicent appeared with Ikkar’s meal, the spell was broken. Alaric stood, handing the boy over to her before following Isabella as she led him through the palace halls. They walked in silence until they reached a large balcony that overlooked Allendor, the vast ocean stretching beyond it. Alaric leaned on the stone railing, gazing into the horizon.
“My father had so many children,” he began, his tone distant, “he never bothered to learn all their names. The ones I knew were the children he had with his favorites, the ones who got to be raised as royal princes and princesses. As a boy, I would wander near the harem, trying to catch glimpses of the other children in there, knowing they were my siblings but I was never allowed to meet them.”
Isabella looked at him, her face softening. “I can’t imagine that harem crowded with fifty women and their children running around.”
Alaric chuckled, shaking his head. “It was a mess. I swore I’d never become like him. I didn’t want to. When I first inherited the crown, I wanted a bride, a queen—not a harem. There was Dara... And, at some point, there was you… Many women for me to consider. All part of my search.”
His eyes flicked toward her, filled with a strange mix of longing and bitterness. “But war... War can harden a man’s heart. You must know that well. Betrayal, deceit—it makes you think that devotion isn’t worth the cost.”
Isabella sighed, a bitterness of her own creeping into her voice. “And so, you decided to assemble your court of fallen queens?”
“Dethroned queens,” he corrected with a wry smile. “Stripped of their titles, fighting for a crown they’d never get to wear. I had seen my mother’s fate... The best I could do was to keep my women content and docile, entertaining them with scraps of my attention.”
Isabella’s eyes darkened at the memory. “I know all too well how things worked in your harem. I would rather go to war than go back there.”
Alaric laughed, a rich, unexpected sound that echoed off the stone walls.
She turned to him, frowning. “What’s so funny?”
He met her gaze, his smile lingering. “Everything changed the moment you arrived,” he said.
Isabella chuckled softly, the sound echoing between them. Alaric smiled, his gaze warm but laced with something deeper. "You were always ungovernable," he said, his voice low. "So beautiful, and yet so impassive. I avoided having children for years, kept my women entertained with the competition for my favor, shifting my attention whenever I pleased. But with you..." He paused, searching her face, "...I lost control. My body, my mind—my soul craved you. I knew I was damned to be yours from the moment I laid eyes on you."
A tear slipped down Isabella’s cheek. Alaric, seeing it, frowned in confusion and concern. "What's wrong?"
Isabella shook her head, brushing away the tear. "You loved your prisoner," she whispered. "You loved a fragile teenage girl who was trying to survive and was just a little too reckless to play your games."
Her voice wavered as she continued, "But I’m not that girl anymore. And I’m not sure if you’re capable of loving the woman I became. The queen, the widow, the mother who is pregnant with her fourth child… I am not the seventeen year old princess who arrived in your harem, Alaric. I’m sorry."
Alaric reached for her hands, gently, as if she might pull away, and when she didn’t, he held on, his grip tightening as he spoke.
"You’re right," he said, his voice deep and raw. "You’re not that girl anymore. And I’m not the man who locked you up. You changed me, Isabella. I can’t look at the world the same way, because of you."
He took a breath, his grip firm but tender, as though she were the one thing grounding him in a sea of chaos. "I’ve lived a life surrounded by deceit, control, and power, thinking that was all I needed. But then you came, unafraid, even when you should have been. You defied me, and I hated it—but I loved it even more. You made me feel something real. Something I hadn’t felt in years, maybe my whole life. You made me want to be better, even when I didn’t know how."
His voice faltered for a moment, and he shook his head. "I kept telling myself you were just another one of them. But you weren’t. You never were. You made me want to love, to fight for something more than power."
Alaric’s eyes locked onto hers, full of vulnerability and passion. "I love you, Isabella. Not the fragile girl I claimed, but the woman standing before me now. The woman who burned my armies to protect our children, the one who will probably defy me all over again and unleash hell in my life if I fail her another time. And I’m ready for this. I’ve changed because of you, and I will spend the rest of my life proving that."
His voice softened, filled with emotion. "I’m not asking you to forget what I’ve done. I’m asking for a chance to show you I’m not that man anymore. I love you, Isabella. That’s the one thing I’m sure about in this life."
Alaric didn’t wait for a response. The weight of his emotions overcame him, and with a swift movement, he pulled Isabella into his arms. His lips met hers with a desperate tenderness, a rawness that spoke of years of longing, regret, and love. Isabella, though tense at first, melted into his embrace. The warmth of his kiss, the familiar but changed touch, undid the walls she had built around her heart.
Her arms slowly wrapped around his neck, and she kissed him back with a fervor she hadn’t allowed herself to feel for so long.
As they broke the kiss, their foreheads rested against each other, their breaths heavy and mingling in the space between them. Alaric’s thumb brushed over her cheek, his eyes searching hers for something, anything, to hold onto.
Isabella’s voice trembled as she spoke, her fingers gripping Alaric’s arms as though anchoring herself to him. "You changed me too." She swallowed, her heart pounding as she continued, her words coming from a place deep within her. "And deep down, I knew... I knew that it was my fate to be with you all along."
Alaric’s grip on her tightened, his eyes searching hers as if he could see the truth of her soul laid bare before him.
"The priestesses," Isabella said, her voice soft but resolute, "they said there would be war. They foretold all of this." She paused, her gaze shifting to the horizon beyond the balcony, the weight of their past battles heavy between them. "But we could end it. Right now, we have the chance to stop it all. To end this war… and be a family again."
Alaric’s heart pounded in his chest, and he could see the truth, the depth of her emotions in her eyes. His thumb brushed her cheek again, this time wiping away a tear that had escaped.
"I loved you," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Even when I ran, even when I tried to convince myself that I was escaping you... I couldn't escape what I felt." She lowered her gaze, her eyes wet with unshed tears. "I loved you then, and I love you still, my king."
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