The engagement ball continued inside like nothing unusual had happened, but outside, the gathering storm could not even begin to compare to the tempest raging inside Elian’s mind and heart.
"Come on... it’s time to leave," Cassian said gently, walking over to Elian, who was standing absent-mindedly beside the waiting carriage against the chill of the night air.
Elian blinked slowly, trying to clear his blurred vision.
He glanced over his shoulder one last time at the towering stonewall manor where the man he loved had just bound himself to someone else in front of the whole kingdom. He was finally getting the physical escape, the freedom he had begged for, but why did it feel like he was losing something vital? It felt as though a large, raw piece of his soul was being violently torn away from his chest.
"My mother..." Elian murmured, looking away from the manor’s glowing windows with a heavy heart.
Cassian placed a reassuring hand in the small of Elian’s back, his thumb rubbing a comforting circle against the fabric of his coat. "I’m sorry, Elian. But the Duke only let you go tonight... he didn’t free your mother from her service," he explained quietly, glancing up at the bruised, swirling black clouds gathering heavily above them.
"Will she be well?" Elian asked, biting his lower lip until it stung.
He knew he couldn’t bring himself to go see his mother one last time before leaving. He simply couldn’t bear to face the profound disappointment in her eyes. She had entrusted him with a mission—to dismantle the Duke and make him pay. He had been given countless opportunities to end Lucien, yet he had allowed himself to be derailed, trapped by a web of obsessive feelings he ultimately couldn’t control.
"She is fine, and she will be taken care of. I give you my word," Cassian replied firmly.
Elian gritted his teeth and nodded, swallowing the bitter pill of his own failure.
This was not the end, no. He repeated the silent mantra to himself like a lifeline. He just needed to go away for a while, to step out of the shadows of the Valemont estate and relearn his own purpose, because right now, his entire existence seemed tragically anchored to a man who would never truly choose him.
With a determined, albeit trembling mind, Elian stepped up and climbed into the open carriage, the plush velvet seats offering little comfort against the cold dread pooling in his stomach.
"Elian," a voice called out sharply just as Cassian was about to close the carriage door.
Elian lifted his head, his tired eyes finding Rowan and Soren walking purposefully toward them through the courtyard shadows.
Cassian immediately shifted his stance, stepping squarely in front of the carriage door to block them, his hand resting instinctively near the hilt of his sword in case they tried to stop him from taking Elian away.
"What do you want?" Cassian asked, his voice dripping with cold, defensive authority.
"We just want to talk to him," Rowan snapped back, coming to a halt. He looked at Cassian with irritation, then shifted his gaze past the guard to the pale figure sitting inside. "You really had to cause a scene like that, didn’t you?" Rowan asked Elian, though his tone carried more exhaustion than anger.
"What would you have had him do? Stand there and let them slaughter him with words?" Soren spoke up, stepping right in front of Cassian and looking directly past him into the carriage at Elian.
Soren’s expression softened. "You’ll be alright, Elian."
"I know," Elian murmured, staring down at his bandaged palm where his fingernail had bitten deep into his skin earlier that day.
"We’ll visit you—" Soren started.
"No," Elian immediately shook his head, looking up with a firm, pleading expression. "Please, don’t."
"Why?" Rowan asked, his face tightening, looking visibly hurt by the rejection. "You think we’re just going to pretend none of this happened?"
"I just want to be away..." Elian lowered his gaze, his voice cracking slightly. "...from everyone that reminds me of him. Please, I’m begging you both."
Cassian arched a brow at Rowan, watching closely to see if the cousin was going to push the matter further with Elian.
Soren sighed heavily, glancing at Rowan before giving a small nod. "We understand. We do, right?" He nudged Rowan gently.
Rowan swallowed hard, running a hand through his dark hair as he looked away into the dark courtyard. When he looked back, his eyes were glossy. "We’ll miss you, Elian," he replied quietly.
Elian let out a dry, humorless chuckle, not replying for a long moment.
He hated to admit it to himself, but he knew he would miss them, too. Especially the sharp-tongued Rowan and the steady presence of Soren. But more than anything, terrifyingly, he knew he was going to miss the very place he was fleeing.
Elian stared past the carriage opening one last time, trying desperately to catch even a brief, distant glimpse of Lucien through the grand arched windows of the ballroom. But the heavy velvet curtains remained firmly drawn, hiding the Duke away with his new bride.
Cassian finally stepped up, casting one final, protective look at Rowan and Soren before climbing into the carriage beside Elian. With a heavy thud, Cassian pulled the heavy wooden door shut, clicking the latch firmly into place, sealing them away from the estate.
"Drive," Cassian ordered the coachman through the front slot.
The carriage lurched forward, its heavy wooden wheels crunching against the gravel as they began to pull away from the Valemont gates.
As they rolled down the long, winding drive, Elian leaned his head against the cold glass pane of the window. For the first time in many long, suffocating months, a strange, hollow wave of relief washed over his grief. He was leaving. He was finally out of the lion’s den. Yet, the sadness clung to him like a second skin, heavy and suffocating.
Outside, the gentle patter of rain quickly escalated. Within minutes, a heavy downpour began to lash furiously against the roof of the carriage, the grey skies opening up as they plunged deeper into the thick, ancient woods surrounding the valley.
The wind howled through the dense pines, shaking the branches like skeletal hands. Lightning fractured the sky in blinding, jagged streaks, followed almost instantly by the concussive boom of rolling thunder. The weather was turning violent, mirroring the dark urgency of the night.
As the carriage picked up speed along the winding path, they began to head up toward a notoriously narrow cliff road—a treacherous stretch of elevated earth where a sheer rock face bordered one side and a terrifying, hundred-foot drop into a rushing river yawned on the other.
The thunder crashed louder overhead, shaking the very carriage on its axles, and the relentless rain turned the dirt path slick and muddy.
Suddenly, Elian noticed something wrong. Through the rain-streaked rear window of the carriage, a pair of bright, unnatural lights—or perhaps the glint of lanterns racing at breakneck speed—flashed through the trees.
"Cassian..." Elian said, his voice tightening with sudden dread as he pointed backward. "Look."
Cassian turned sharply, peering through the back glass. Emerging from the blinding curtain of rain and shadows behind them, a heavy, black carriage was charging furiously down the path, closing the distance at a terrifying speed. It was chasing them.
"Hold on!" Cassian shouted instantly, grabbing the strap by the window as the driver in the front whipped the horses into a panic, trying to outpace the pursuers.
The two carriages tore through the storm-drenched woods, their wheels skidding dangerously across the slick mud of the narrow cliff road. The pursuing carriage slammed its side deliberately against theirs, sending a violent shockwave through the cabin that knocked Elian hard against Cassian’s shoulder.
"They’re trying to run us off the edge!" Cassian yelled over the deafening roar of the storm and the hammering rain.
Before Elian could draw another breath, the driver of the pursuing carriage made one final, brutal, suicidal maneuver, cutting hard to the left and ramming their front wheel with crushing force.
The wooden axle of Elian’s carriage snapped with a deafening crack.
The vehicle violently jerked toward the precipice. For a horrifying split second, the carriage tipped entirely onto two wheels, weightless over the empty, yawning abyss of the cliffside. Elian screamed, his hands grabbing blindly for anything he could hold as gravity betrayed them.
Then, the edge gave way.
The earth crumbled beneath the weight, and with a terrifying lurch, their carriage plunged headfirst over the edge of the cliff, plummeting downward through the open air like a stone before slamming violently into the massive, rushing, flooding river below.
___
Back at the mansion, Lucien stood in his window, staring at the stables just like he had watched Edgar that night Elian was dragged there.
He was yet to believe that Elian was not under his roof.
The image of Cassian kissing Elian never left his mind, and he could only think what Casssian would try with Elian behind closed doors.
His door suddenly opened, followed by soft footsteps.
"My love..." Rowena wrapped her arms around his waist, "You promised... I won’t be alone tonight." She murmured.
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