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94 When the World Began to Burn 2

last update Last Updated: 2025-12-16 20:22:58

Cassandra’s POV

Richard didn’t speak.

He didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t react, not even when the reporter on the screen stumbled as another explosion of shouting erupted behind her. He watched with the stillness of a man who had suddenly discovered cracks forming in the ceiling above his head, each one widening, each one promising collapse.

His world, the one he clung to, the one he sacrificed me for, was splintering in real time.

Then his phone vibrated sharply against the nightstand.

Richard tore his gaze from the television, glanced at the screen, and the tension in his face deepened into something stiff and cold.

“Emergency meeting,” he muttered. “Court session. Now.”

The resignation in his voice was heavy. Familiar. Exhausting.

I said nothing.

What could I possibly say?

He pushed to his feet, shoulders slumped under weight no crown had ever prepared him for. He dragged his fingers through his hair, an old habit I’d forgotten he had, and for a moment, he looked so lost I almost
Karima Sa'ad Usman

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  • Tempting the Wrong Prince   94 When the World Began to Burn 2

    Cassandra’s POVRichard didn’t speak.He didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t react, not even when the reporter on the screen stumbled as another explosion of shouting erupted behind her. He watched with the stillness of a man who had suddenly discovered cracks forming in the ceiling above his head, each one widening, each one promising collapse.His world, the one he clung to, the one he sacrificed me for, was splintering in real time.Then his phone vibrated sharply against the nightstand.Richard tore his gaze from the television, glanced at the screen, and the tension in his face deepened into something stiff and cold.“Emergency meeting,” he muttered. “Court session. Now.”The resignation in his voice was heavy. Familiar. Exhausting.I said nothing.What could I possibly say?He pushed to his feet, shoulders slumped under weight no crown had ever prepared him for. He dragged his fingers through his hair, an old habit I’d forgotten he had, and for a moment, he looked so lost I almost

  • Tempting the Wrong Prince   93 When the World Began to Burn

    Cassandra’s POVMorning crept into the room like an uninvited witness, slow, steady, unapologetic. Soft sunlight slipped through the gaps in the curtains in thin, golden slants, warming the sheets I had barely slept on. Warm air pooled across the room, carrying with it distant sounds from the courtyard: guards changing shifts, the soft murmur of palace staff beginning their day, the faint ringing of bells from somewhere deeper in the castle grounds.And for a small, fragile moment, I let myself pretend.Pretend that I had slept peacefully. Pretend that my chest didn’t ache with the weight of a thousand unspoken truths. Pretend that Arden’s arms hadn’t been around me only hours ago, breathing life into parts of me that had long been starved. Pretend that my life wasn’t fracturing, cleanly, mercilessly, in three different directions at once.But then I rolled over.And reality struck with a violence that felt almost physical.Richard was sitting at the edge of the bed, hunched forwar

  • Tempting the Wrong Prince   92 The Line I Refuse to Cross 2

    Arden’s POV“Yes, Your Majesty,” Abraham said, voice suddenly stripped of its earlier confidence. Now it held the rigid, spine-snapping deference only the King could command. “I’m with Prince Arden now.”I stood completely still as he repeated every word I’d said, every refusal, every threat, every calm, calculated rejection of the marriage they were trying to force on me. But he didn’t simply repeat them.He emphasized them. Sharpened them. Twisted them into daggers designed to provoke.Then he lowered the phone from his ear and hung up without another word, his expression tight with dread.Ten seconds later, my own phone rang.The sound sliced through the room like a blade. I didn’t move. I didn’t reach for it immediately. I simply stared as the screen lit up.FATHER.A name that once meant warmth, pride, and protection. A name that now felt like a chain around my throat.For one long, steady moment, I considered ignoring the call. For another, I considered throwing the phone

  • Tempting the Wrong Prince   91 The Line I Refuse to Cross

    Arden’s POVThe moment the office door shut behind us, the carefully maintained air of civility I had forced myself to wear downstairs shattered like thin, brittle glass.Here, in my space, my sanctuary, there was no need for masks.No need for diplomacy. No need for measured breath. No need to tolerate anything or anyone.Lord Abraham Welsh barely had time to exhale before I stepped forward, closing the distance between us with deliberate, predatory calm. He hadn’t even fixed his robes or smoothed his expression yet, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t interested in giving him time to compose whatever court-friendly lies he intended to deliver.“What is the meaning of all this?” I demanded, my voice sharp enough to slice through the thick tension.He flinched, an involuntary, human reaction he tried and failed to hide. The movement was small but telling, and under different circumstances I might have enjoyed it. Ministers rarely feared anyone but the King.But today? Today I was not in th

  • Tempting the Wrong Prince   90 The Things I Cannot Tolerate 2

    Arden’s POVI slipped out the same way I came, silent, shadow-like, keeping close to the stone walls of the quieter corridors, avoiding the guards who patrolled on predictable rotations. The palace’s lesser staircases were narrow and dim, meant for servants and forgotten royals, but I knew every creak in every step, every patch of worn marble, every place where the torchlight didn’t quite reach.By the time the night air hit my face, cool and sharp against my skin, I felt the tight coil inside my chest snap just a little. Not enough to ease anything. But enough to keep me from turning around to do something reckless.It took everything inside me not to march back into that cursed palace and drag Cassandra out with my bare hands.Not walk out, drag her out. Pull her away from the man who ruined her. Rip her from under my father’s control. Tear her out of the hands of a court that fed on her suffering like it was entertainment.But I couldn’t. Not yet.So I walked away.But my

  • Tempting the Wrong Prince   89 The Things I Cannot Tolerate

    Arden’s POVThe room still smelled like her.Cassandra’s perfume lingered faintly, soft, floral, familiar, etched into the stale air of that abandoned chamber like a haunting. I stood there long after she slipped out with Diana, long after her footsteps faded into nothingness down the corridor, long after I ran out of excuses to remain in the place that had once tormented her.But I didn’t move.My hands were still shaking.Not from desire. Not from the ghost of her lips on mine. Not from the heat of her body pressed against me.From rage.Pure, undiluted fury.The kind that simmered under the skin, burning slow and vicious. The kind that made breathing feel like swallowing glass. The kind that made my vision blur at the edges and my heartbeat thrum with violence.I was furious at everything.At the king. At Richard. At Ivana. At the palace. At the suffocating politics of this country. At the damned, rotting court that fed on misery and pretended it was tradition.If I was bein

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