CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR: THE COST OF CHOICE

Grief had a sound.

Aria learned that as she stood outside the victim’s family home, listening to the muffled sobs bleeding through stone walls meant to protect against the world. The house was small, humble, nothing like the towering structures she governed from. It smelled of incense and loss.

She had come without guards.

Luca walked beside her anyway.

“You do not have to do this alone,” he said quietly.

“I know,” Aria replied. “But I have to do it myself.”

The door opened before she could knock. The victim’s mother stood there, eyes swollen, shoulders stiff with a pain that had nowhere to go.

Recognition flashed across the woman’s face. Fear followed. Then anger.

“So you came,” the woman said flatly.

“Yes,” Aria replied. “To offer my condolences. And my responsibility.”

The woman laughed bitterly and stepped aside. Inside, the air was thick with sorrow. A framed photo sat on the table. A young man smiling, alive, unaware of how short his future had been.

Aria’s chest tightened.

“You took him from me,” the woman said, voice shaking. “Your mercy did.”

Aria did not flinch. “No. A man who lost control did. I am here because his actions happened under my rule.”

The woman’s jaw clenched. “Your rule is weak.”

The words cut deeper than any insult shouted in council chambers.

Before Aria could respond, the woman reached into her robe and pulled out a sealed letter.

“She came,” the woman said. “Your mother.”

Aria’s pulse spiked. “What did she offer you?”

“Justice,” the woman replied. “Protection. A future where people like her do not walk free.”

Silence filled the room.

“And what did you tell her?” Aria asked softly.

The woman’s eyes burned. “I told her I would listen.”

Aria bowed her head slightly. “That is your right.”

Luca stiffened beside her.

“You will not punish me for grieving,” the woman continued. “Will you?”

“No,” Aria said firmly. “I will never punish grief.”

She stepped closer, lowering her voice. “But I will not let my mother use your pain to destroy this city.”

The woman’s breath hitched. “Then prove it.”

Aria nodded once. “I will.”

They left in silence.

Outside, Luca’s voice was tight. “She is losing them one family at a time.”

“I know,” Aria replied. “That is why this cannot stay theoretical anymore.”

The consequences arrived faster than expected.

That night, one of Aria’s closest aides was brought before her in chains. A man she had trusted. A man who had believed in her restraint.

“He leaked council movements,” Luca said, fury barely contained. “To your mother.”

Aria stared at him, disbelief and betrayal tangling painfully. “Why?”

The aide looked at her, eyes hollow. “Because she promised order. You promise balance. Balance feels like chaos to those who are afraid.”

Aria’s hands trembled.

The council demanded execution.

Luca watched her closely, silent but present.

Aria stepped forward.

“You betrayed this city,” she said. “And you betrayed me.”

The aide lowered his head. “I know.”

“You believed mercy was weakness,” Aria continued. “So I will show you its weight.”

She turned to the guards. “Exile him. Strip his rank. He will never return.”

Gasps rippled through the chamber.

The aide looked up sharply. “You let me live?”

“You will live knowing what you lost,” Aria replied. “That is not mercy. That is consequence.”

As he was taken away, Luca exhaled slowly. “The council will see this as defiance.”

“Let them,” Aria said quietly.

Later that night, Aria stood alone in her chamber, the city’s lights blurred through the window. Her reflection looked older. Harder.

Luca entered without a word and pulled her into his arms.

“She is attacking your heart,” he murmured.

“Yes,” Aria replied against his chest. “Because that is where I am strongest.”

A soft knock interrupted them.

Another message.

This one had no seal. No disguise.

Just a single line written in elegant script.

Every choice you make costs someone something. How long before it costs you him?

Aria’s blood ran cold.

Luca read it too.

Silence stretched between them, thick with unspoken fear.

“She will come for you through me,” Luca said.

Aria lifted her gaze, eyes fierce. “Then she has underestimated us both.”

But even as she said it, doubt whispered at the edges of her mind.

Because power could be controlled.

Love could not.

And her mother knew exactly where to strike next.