In another lifetime…

ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴡᴀsɴ’ᴛ ɪɴ ᴏᴜʀ ғᴀᴠᴏᴜʀ”

“ɪ’ʟʟ ᴡᴀɪᴛ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɪɴ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ʟɪғᴇᴛɪᴍᴇ”

~~

[ DO NOT FORGET TO VOTE ]

In the carriage

Angel, Luciano, the Queen and the King were all seated in the carriage while chatting with one another. Angel was so excited to announce to her parents that they’re going to be grandparents. They would be so happy to know that their one and only daughter is pregnant.

The Romanov Kingdom was situated quite far from the Windsor Kingdom. It would take at least 16 hours before they reach there.

Few hours later

It was dark night, black clouds covered the sky, not a star to be seen. The trees shook their branches, dancing in anticipation of the upcoming storm.

Angel clasped into her husband’s muscular body, as the breeze was chilling her to the bone. In response, Luciano pulled her closer to him and covered her with a blanket. He caressed her silky black locks for a while before planting soft kisses all over her rosy face.

“Stop! It’s tickling me,” she uttered between her soft giggles.

At this moment, she felt like life was perfect.

There was no word that could describe how much she adored the man that was next to her. He meant everything to her.

She felt safe in his arms and she knew that no one could ever harm her as long as he was by her side. Angel felt inner peace whenever he was there with her. More than a husband, she knew that Luciano was the one for her. She knew that he was made for her and that she was made to be his; she knew that he was her soulmate.

The first time she met him, she felt an immediate connection towards him. As they got to know each other, that connection grew stronger as their love grew deeper for one another. They completed each other perfectly.

~~

Suddenly, the carriage stopped abruptly. Angel looked up from Luciano’s chest and gazed at him with her ocean eyes. He stared back at her and he seemed to be confused as well.

“Love, stay here. I’ll go check what’s wrong,” he whispered.

She didn’t want to let him go; she needed his warmth, but she had to let him go. She slowly redressed herself from her husband’s torso.

“I will be right back, darling,” he uttered again and pecked her soft lips.

Few minutes later, Angel heard some weird noise. She got out of the carriage to check if Luciano was alright. As she got out of the carriage, her eyes widened at the sight.

Luciano was getting attacked. There were at least eight men on him. One of them took out a sword and stabbed him right in the stomach. Luciano shut his eyes as the pain overtook his body. Blood started to flow out of his abdomen interminably.

“No!” Angel cried out as she ran to her husband. All the men got up from Luciano and one of them pushed Angel down, resulting in her falling on her belly. She cried out in pain. She didn’t care about her pain; she crawled to her lover despite the unbearable agony she felt.

“Darling… I told you not to come out,” he mumbled as he touched her face, caressing it.

The rain was pouring without break, the blood fading away along with the crystal raindrops. Luciano slowly started to close his eyes.

“No… Luciano look at me! Don’t close your eyes, look at me. Everything will be alright.” Angel was brutally crying while hugging her husband’s bloodied figure.

She suddenly got up and limped toward the carriage to look for her in-laws for help. Her eyes widened as wide as saucers when she saw her in-laws drenched in their own blood. Tears rushed down her rosy cheeks.

Oh, how she wished none of it was real and that it was just a mere dream.

She went back to her husband and hugged him, placing his head on her chest.

Luciano softly smiled at her.

“Angel, I will look for you in every lifetime, until we finally stay.”

“No, Luciano! No! Look, this is not over. You’re not leaving me.” All her energy was drained and all she could do was hysterically cry.

She held his face, pushing his brown locks—drenched with sweat—behind his ear. She pressed her lips against his, kissing him slowly under the rain. She always wished to kiss the person she loved the most under the rain, but never had she thought it would be like this.

“Angel, I’m really sorry… I love you so much. In another lifetime, I’ll see you, my darling.”

He held her face with his blood-covered hand and kissed her forehead for one last time as he closed his eyes.

He left her all alone in this world.

Angel wasn’t accepting the fact that he left her. She was becoming insane. She felt like her whole world fell apart. She held her hair and pulled at it, trembling uncontrollably.

“NO! You promised you’d stay! Please don’t leave me! Please!” she begged him.

She clutched him tighter, as if sheer will could anchor him to her, her hands trembling against his chest. “Please don’t leave me,” she begged again, pressing her forehead to his. “I don’t know how to do this without you. You can’t go. Not now. Not ever.”

But he didn’t answer. He didn’t even breathe.

His body lay heavy and unmoving in her arms, the warmth she knew so well already slipping away. She searched his face desperately, waiting for a flutter of lashes, a faint sigh, anything, but there was only stillness. A terrible, final stillness.

A broken cry tore from her throat as the truth crashed down, cruel and absolute. She rocked back and forth on the floor, holding him the way she always had, the way she always would, even as reality ripped him from her grasp.

“I’m here,” she whispered through tears that soaked his shirt. “I’m right here.”

But he was gone. And no matter how tightly she held him, he would never hold her back again.

~~

Elijah reached there within few minutes. He got off the carriage and smirked upon seeing Angel crying hysterically. She was drenched in blood and rain, looking weak. Now she was fully his. No one could ever stop him from taking her—not even his brother, nor his parents, nor herself.

His eyes darkened when he saw her clinging to Luciano. Even in death, her arms were wrapped around him, her fingers tangled in his clothes as if she could will him back to life. It enraged him. He hated seeing her touch his brother, hated that she loved Luciano so fiercely that not even death had loosened her grip. The devotion was like poison in his veins, a reminder that Luciano had taken something from him that he never could.

He rushed to Angel’s petite form and grabbed her harshly by the arm, yanking her away from the body. She winced and yelled out in pain, but even as she stumbled, she tried to reach back for Luciano, sobbing as though being torn from him was worse than the pain itself. That only fueled Elijah’s fury.

She looked at Elijah and once again started crying.

“E-Elijah, tell Luciano to open h-his eyes.”

In response, he only stared at her with a sly smirk plastered on his face. She pushed him away and glared at him with her red eyes.

“Are you crazy? Tell him t-to open his eyes!”

He held her shoulders roughly and yelled,

“He’s fucking dead. He’s not alive anymore! You’re the one that’s crazy! Now come on, let’s go back to the castle .”

Angel wasn’t ready to listen.

“He’s not dead! My Luciano is still alive!”

Elijah couldn’t take it anymore. Without thinking twice, he slapped her. She fell beside her husband’s body, holding her red cheek. She wanted to scream, to yell, to cry, but she had no strength left.

She looked up at him, her eyes red and swollen, rain mixing with her tears until she couldn’t tell them apart. The mark of his hand still burned on her cheek.

The rain was heavy, cold, relentless. It poured over the bodies behind him, soaking clothes, washing thin streams of blood into the dirt. Thunder rolled somewhere above them, but it felt distant, small compared to the silence between them.

Her brother-in-law had slapped her.

She could barely process it. The shock sat heavy in her chest, stealing her breath. Why? The question pounded in her head, louder than the storm. Why would he do that?

His entire bloodline lay lifeless at his feet.

He was supposed to be broken.

He was supposed to be on his knees.

But he wasn’t.

He stood there in the pouring rain, unmoving. Water ran down his face, but it wasn’t tears. His expression was empty. No grief. No rage. No sorrow. Just a cold stillness that didn’t belong on a human face.

She searched his eyes for something—anything.

She found nothing.

And as lightning split the sky and lit up his face for a brief, blinding second, she felt the truth settle deep in her bones.

He didn’t look like a grieving man.

He looked like a monster.

“He died. Just accept it and come with me,” he said calmly.

Angel shook her head.

“You’re l-lying,” she sobbed.

“You don’t believe me?” he said with a mischievous smile.

“Well sweetheart, I’m the one who told my men to kill Luciano.”

Ty for reading i love you guys !