All Chapters of Kingdom of Ash and Blood : Chapter 221 - Chapter 230

Luca The rain hasn’t stopped since I set foot back in Palermo. It’s as if the sky knows the city is unworthy of silence — it must bleed first, drown first, before it remembers what peace looks like. The streets hum with the echoes of old wars. My name used to own them. Luca Moretti — the devil of Sicily, the heir of shadows, the man who loved a woman fierce enough to destroy him. Now, when they whisper my name, it’s with disbelief. A ghost come home. The old chapel sits at the edge of the harbor — half-ruined, blackened stone still clinging to memory. I find her there, standing beneath what’s left of the cross. The moment her eyes met mine again, the years between us burned away. Now she stands a few paces away, spine straight, crown invisible but undeniable. Amara Varela-Moretti — my wife, my equal, my unfinished war. “Three months,” she says softly. “That’s how long it took for the world to tell me you were dead.” I watch the corner of her mouth tighten, her chi

Luca The silence between us is worse than her fury. Amara hasn’t spoken to me since the warehouse. Not on the drive back. Not when I tried to reach for her. The space between us now feels like another battlefield — one I built myself. I made a deal with Valeria. Years ago, when Amara was still just a shadow in my world — a name whispered through blood and smoke. I didn’t know then who she’d become. I only knew that the Varela cartel was collapsing and Valeria had promised something I needed: peace, leverage, a ceasefire long enough to keep my family alive. The cost was silence. A single favor owed in the future. And now she’s come to collect. I stand in the hall outside our chambers, watching the flicker of candlelight through the half-open door. Amara’s silhouette moves across the room — deliberate, measured. She hasn’t cried. She won’t. She’s too proud for that. When I finally step inside, her voice cuts through the air like a blade. “How long?” “Amara—” “I sa

Amara There are nights when even the city holds its breath. Milan feels like that now—caught between prayer and war. The parchment lies on the table between us, red ink bleeding into the fibers like a wound that won’t close. The words glare at me, heavy with meaning. When blood betrays blood, empires fall. Luca hasn’t moved in an hour. He just stares at the window, his reflection fractured by the city lights. I know that look—he’s unraveling quietly, the way men like him always do: in silence, with dignity, until there’s nothing left. “Talk to me,” I whisper finally. He exhales, slow and jagged. “She’s rewriting everything, Amara. Every truth, every name. Rafael, my father, the Syndicate—she’s building something I can’t see yet.” “Then we tear it down before it takes root.” He shakes his head. “You don’t understand. If that prophecy is real—” “It’s not,” I snap. “It’s manipulation dressed in poetry.” But even as I say it, I feel the unease in my own chest. Becau

Amara The sky bleeds gray when we return to Palermo’s heart. Smoke curls from the ruins of the Syndicate’s old compound, the charred remains of what once held the world hostage. The city is fractured, but still breathing—like us. Broken. But not dead. Rafael’s blood still stains Luca’s hands. I see him try to wash it off every night. And I see how it doesn’t fade. He stands by the shattered window of our new stronghold—the old cathedral near the harbor. Morning light spills through the cracked stained glass, scattering across his face like shards of gold. He’s quiet, eyes on the sea. “You haven’t slept,” I say. “I don’t deserve to,” he replies. I step closer, fingers brushing his arm. “He saved us, Luca.” His jaw tightens. “And I let him die.” “Don’t you dare,” I whisper sharply. “You didn’t let him die. Valeria did.” He doesn’t answer, but I can feel the storm in him, brewing darker every day. Guilt has teeth, and it’s tearing him from the inside out. I reach for his ha

The villa was too quiet. Too still. Even the sea outside seemed to hold its breath, as if waiting for something to crack. Amara stood by the window, her reflection ghosting the glass. The early dawn painted her in soft gold, but her eyes were hollow—shadows that no light could fill. Behind her, the faint hum of Luca’s movements echoed, methodical and deliberate. The sound of a man trying to keep control when everything else had already burned. He had always been fire—fierce, destructive, untouchable. But this morning, he looked like ash. “You didn’t sleep,” Amara murmured without turning. “I couldn’t,” Luca said quietly. His voice carried that old gravel—rough, restrained, dangerous. But beneath it was something else. Something broken. Amara turned then. He stood by the table, shirt unbuttoned halfway, scars catching the dim light. His gun was beside his hand, but his eyes weren’t on it. They were on her. “Every time I close my eyes,” he said, “I see him.” Amara knew who he me