Semua Bab Forgotten Love: Bab 31 - Bab 40

Ashyrel's POVI couldn’t sleep. The ticking clock on the wall only made the silence around me more deafening. Lying on my bed, I stared blankly at the ceiling as thoughts stormed through my head like an unstoppable hurricane.Sylvester.Anthony.His memory.The lies.The confusion.Everything feels like it’s crushing down on me, and I’m barely holding it together.I rolled over and stared at the window, my fingers curling into the sheets. My chest hurt from everything I was trying to process. How could he say he lost his memories and then suddenly recognize Anthony so casually? I’ve known every partner in the company—how did I not know this Anthony? Or worse, did I know, and they’ve kept this entire thing from me on purpose?“Liar,” I whispered under my breath. “He’s a liar.”I wiped a tear that escaped before it could stain my pillow. I didn’t want to cry, but my heart didn’t care. All I could think of was how I was once so happy with him. So secure. So sure. And now I feel like a st

ASHYREL – POVThe sound of my heartbeat was louder than the breeze.I stood by the window of our shared chambers, watching the moon carve a path through the velvet night sky. The castle was quiet, as if holding its breath. My fingers absently trailed the edge of the curtain, the silk slipping beneath my touch.He was behind me. I could feel it.Sylvester.He had returned an hour ago from a private council meeting with the King—his father. I hadn’t asked what they discussed. The weight on his shoulders said more than his words ever could.“I didn’t mean to wake you,” his voice came softly, barely above a whisper.I didn’t turn around. “I wasn’t asleep.”“Could’ve fooled me,” he teased gently. “You looked peaceful.”I took a breath. “I was just… thinking.”The floor creaked softly beneath his steps. I could hear him approaching slowly, but he stopped a few feet behind me—close enough for me to feel the tension in the space between us, but far enough that it didn’t touch me. He always di

ASHYREL – POVThe morning sky was the color of bruised lavender—unsettled, uncertain.I stood at the balcony, my robe tight around me, watching the carriage roll up the marble path toward the palace gates. It was black with silver lining, drawn by four white stallions. Regal. I recognized the sigil immediately.The bloodied rose.“She’s here,” I whispered, more to myself than anyone.Behind me, the room was silent, except for the faint rustle of silk as I stepped back inside. I didn’t move like a queen. I moved like a girl who had once been a shadow in the same halls this woman used to command.“She’ll try to take everything,” I muttered.“She won’t,” Sylvester said from the doorway. He leaned against the frame, arms crossed. “Not this time.”I turned to look at him. “You sound so sure.”“I have you now,” he replied simply. “I didn’t back then.”His confidence was comforting, but I knew her better than he did. I knew her habits, her smiles, her cruelty hidden beneath painted lashes.“

ASHYREL – POVI didn’t cry this time.No shattered glass. No pillow-screaming. No curling into myself like a coward.I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Pale skin. Tired eyes. Bare shoulders.I had allowed her—that woman—to shake me. And for a brief moment, I thought I had lost again.But I hadn’t.Because I remembered something.I am not the frightened girl from before.I am the queen.And I was going to make everyone in this castle remember it.---I called Amber in.“Dress me,” I commanded. “The dark velvet one.”Her eyes widened. “The one with the gold spine embroidery?”I nodded. “And the sapphire crown. Fix my hair like the first coronation night.”She paused. “Should I… call His Highness?”“No,” I said, my voice calm. “Not yet.”When I stepped out of the dressing chamber, I didn’t look like a woman who had been crying on the floor the night before.I looked like someone who ruled.---THRONE HALL – AN HOUR LATERThe chamber buzzed with voices.The weekly hearing had begun

ASHYREL – POVThe moonlight glinted against the silver quill in my hand.I sat at my private study deep within the East Wing, the one Sylvester had restored for me himself, reviewing the aftermath of the summit. My fingers moved over the inked reports sent by my informants, but my mind... was elsewhere.There had been a shift in the palace.A quiet one.Like the tension before thunder.The trade rejection was supposed to be final, firm, and clear. But the moment we turned Prince Caelan away, something changed.I could feel it in the way the guards stiffened.I could hear it in the sudden silence when I walked by the halls.Something was moving beneath the surface.And it wasn’t just politics anymore.---I rose from my chair and walked toward the tall arched windows, staring down into the palace courtyard below.Sylvester had tripled security. He hadn’t said it aloud, but I knew he sensed it too. The enemy was no longer in plain view.They were in shadows now.I placed a hand against