Chapter 236 – Reasons (2) Translator: Atlas / Editor: Regan Ishakan respected Leah as much as he loved her. He would always support her and try to help her get what she wanted. But though he could see the cold rationality behind her decision, his emotions were in such a tumult, he could hardly control them. What should he do? Ishakan covered his face with his hands and took a long breath. He was so angry. He had convinced himself that even if Leah said out loud that she loved Blain, it wouldn’t put a dent in his heart. But he had been so wrong. Watching her leave with another man had been torture. Every time she had looked back, dark thoughts tormented him. Surely, he couldn’t sink any lower than this. Leah had been right. Ishakan could not bear the thought that she might have someone else in her heart. All he wanted to do was make her happy. He had hoped she would have fun, that she would laugh more, and that he could free her to follow the voice in her heart. But now she had lost all of that. How arrogant he had been. He had promised to protect her, and then she had been stolen from him right before his eyes. Maybe this was a punishment. Perhaps he was paying the price for not searching for her sooner, and leaving her to be mistreated in the palace for so long. If only they had met earlier, or if he had understood his feelings for her from the moment they met...but he could not turn back the clock. There was no point in looking back. For now, they needed to leave this place. Ishakan turned back to the Kurkans, waiting silently for his decision. “We will return to the capital,” he said quietly. “Yes,” said Genin quickly. “What will we do now?” “What we can.” They had taught Cerdina and Blain a lesson. Surely it would cow them, at least for a little bit. Cerdina in particular was bound by the fear that Ishakan would get his hands on her son. They would wait for the wedding, as they had planned. He would do his best to help Leah get her memories back. Ishakan looked at the burning orchard. “I allowed her to leave...but that doesn’t mean I’ve left her alone.” *** Barefoot, Cerdina walked unsteadily through the palace. Dirty, with disheveled hair and wearing only a thin nightgown, it was hard to believe she was the Queen Mother. Her cheeks were so tight and swollen with bruises, she couldn’t even move her mouth to speak without pain. All the way back to the Queen’s Palace, she walked through corridors that reeked of blood. Every step sounded sticky, the floor tacky with blood as she lifted her feet. As she walked through the corpses of her blood brothers, a laugh burst from her, and then a sob, her shoulders shaking. Laughing and sobbing, the noises echoing down the corridor, the sounds of a madwoman. Her blood brothers had shared her dream of conquering the world, and they had all been slain by beasts. Cerdina did not understand why her spells didn’t work on the barbarian king. She was a sorceress who had inherited the first power, the power possessed by the sorceress who created the Kurkan. That strength was powerfully significant to the Tomaris. Her failure was their failure. All her spells had been useless. Cerdina stopped laughing at that thought. “...He is a mutant,” she whispered into the eerie silence. It must be. The appearance of such mutation was what had caused the Toma’s downfall. There was no spell she could use against such a creature. She had thought she was a god. But she was wrong. Cerdina screamed, her fingers yanking at her hair, sucking in a breath to try to control her rage. She needed more power. Power enough to destroy even the mutant beast king. Cerdina crouched beside the nearest corpse and lifted her dagger, her face expressionless. Black smoke enveloped the blade and she plunged it into the corpse’s chest. Deftly, she sliced through the flesh to cut out the heart and ate it, clutching the bloody dagger in her other hand. Once she had swallowed it all, she moved on to the next body. The sound of wet, raw flesh being torn and chewed echoed through the halls. Black smoke rose around her feet, thicker than ever, writhing as if it were alive. “I’ll kill him,” she muttered over and over as she devoured the hearts of her blood brothers. “I’ll kill him...I’ll kill him...I’ll kill him...” And she smiled a bloody smile.