"Riannn!" Mrs. Nevermore screamed as well being worried about her son, as she couldn't see him properly.Dust slowly drifted through the chamber like a pale snow, the white flash faded.The rattling stone pillars have calmly settled, and Lysandre, shielding his eyes with one arm, turned toward the storm-wreathed platform."My Lord… Can you hear me?" His voice trembled, but Adrian did not answer.He couldn’t.He was kneeling, one knee on the cracked stone floor, while his arms wrapped tightly around Christian’s limp body as if afraid that something can take him away if he were to get away from him.Lightning still danced faintly over Christian’s skin, soft but uncontrolled, like a storm caught between dying and exploding.Mrs. Nevermore rushed down the steps once the place got clear and visible, her heart pounding in fear. "Rian! Rian, what happened? Is he...." Adrian didn’t even look up.His forehead was pressed to Christian’s temple, his hand cradling the back of the boy’s head wit

"Huh?" Adrian stared at Christian with a clueless face because of the question asked by Christian.Understanding the confusion of Adrian, Christian asked once again, "I mean, aren't we strangers? Why are you worrying about me like this? Why are you going to the extent of hurting yourself just to keep me safe?" Christian ended his words and looked at Adrian for an answer, while the scent of lightning lingered around them, sharp and faintly sweet, as the storm inside Christian settled into silence.Adrian looked down at him, at the boy whose eyes resembled the woman he loved with his everything, and whispered before he could stop himself, "I’m your fa...." The words cracked in the middle itself, before he could continue further, his heart lurched.He bit them back so sharply that the breath caught painfully in his throat just because he wasn't able to say what he actually meant to say, that pain was something beyond any words could explain.Christian blinked, being dazed, as he was un

"Whoosh!" Soft wind with gentle rays showed the signs that morning has arrived quietlyNo thunder, no lightning, no pain either, everything was peaceful in between four walls, there's no signs of any danger or awakenings anymore, all of a sudden it's very silent.Christian woke to the unfamiliar weight of warmth and silence.For a few seconds, he didn’t move as he couldn't remember anything at that moment, he simply lay there, staring at the ceiling, confused by how calm his body felt. No ache in his chest, no buzzing under his skin, no storm clawing to get out, it was like nothing ever happened to him, "Am I really okay now?"The question felt unreal.He slowly turned his head, and froze immediately after finding Adrian was asleep.Not on the bed, but in the chair beside it, his long frame folded awkwardly, one arm resting against the mattress, fingers loosely curled as if he’d fallen asleep mid-guard.He hadn’t left the room and stayed there for the whole night, the realisation th

"What do you mean by a paternity test?" Adrian repeated softly, his voice steady in a way that did not match the tension coiled inside him.Lysandre nodded once with a gentle smile. "First of all, I apologise for doing such a thing without your permission my Lord, actually I've taken the samples discreetly. The lab used blood residue from last night, your wound, and… a sample retrieved from the bracelet fragments, I've given them to the lab by myself." Adrian didn’t check the report immediately, he didn’t need to, because his heart already gave an answer to him last night.Still, his fingers moved on their own, slow and deliberate, as he pulled the paper free.The words were clinical, cold, and unemotional.Probability of biological paternity: 99.99%.For a long moment, nothing happened, no storm answering the truth, not even wind came to disturb the silence that surrounded him.Adrian simply closed his eyes, not in shock, but in relief.Behind him, Mrs. Nevermore took a slow step fo

"I need to take care of something at the company, Rose," Christian said quietly. "I already promised Andrew that I'll be going to the company in the morning unfortunately I couldn't, at least now I should go." Rosaline sighed at his response, "Is it that important?" "Yes," Christian nodded his head with a determined face, "Of course it is important Rose, they must be panicking because of everything that's happening in the company right now, I need to be there with them, they stood by my side all the time, now whatever happening it's all because of me, shouldn't I be there to assure them everything will be okay? Isn't it my duty to take care of them?"Rosaline stared at him, arms crossed, eyes searching his face as if trying to read the thoughts he wasn’t saying aloud.She knew it's all because of Aurora, that woman targeted Christian and became the cause of all the mess, still, Christian isn't blaming her or talking ill about her, that single thing proved to Rosaline that Christian