**Chapter Fourteen: The Prince Returns**
The morning he returned, the sky cracked open.
Thunder rolled like drums of war across the kingdom, shaking the palace walls. The rain came fast, fierce, as if the heavens themselves were warning us: something had changed.
And something had.
Lorenzo was home.
I stood at the tall glass window of the East Wing as his carriage pulled into the courtyard—black lacquered wood streaked with mud, the royal crest nearly washed away by the storm. He stepped down before the guards could assist him, cloak soaked through, boots caked in blood and rain.
Even from a distance, I saw it.
He wasn't the same man who had left.
And I wasn't the same girl he had left behind.
* * *
I didn't run to him.
Didn't wait at the steps like a doting bride.
Instead, I stayed in the library. Seated. Reading.
When the doors burst open thirty minutes later, I didn't even look up.
"You sent no message," he said.
His voice was hoarse. Tired.
I turned the page of my book.
"You sent no word either."
A pause.
"You've changed."
"So have you."
He stepped forward, closer now. The rain was still on his cloak, dripping onto the rug. I could smell ash. And metal.
"I expected you to greet me."
"I expected you to return sooner."
He exhaled slowly. "There was unrest on the border."
"There's unrest here."
He frowned. "What's happened?"
I closed the book. Finally looked up at him.
"Everything."
* * *
We talked in private after that.
Not in my chambers. Not in his study.
In the war room.
Because that's what the palace had become.
Lorenzo paced the stone floor, hair damp, gloves removed.
"They've begun moving," he said. "The Vetra clans refuse to swear loyalty to the throne. The Thorn Circle has embedded itself even in the capital guards. I had to interrogate my own general."
"And now?"
"Now I return to a palace where my wife has made deals behind my back."
I raised an eyebrow. "You sound disappointed."
"I sound betrayed."
"And I sound tired of being underestimated."
He stilled.
"I didn't betray you," I continued. "I protected you. I protected *us*. I burned their letters. I fed them crumbs. I kept them close, just close enough to poison."
His jaw tensed. "And if they had turned on you?"
"They tried. I turned harder."
He didn't speak for a long moment.
Then, "You should have told me."
"You should have stayed."
The silence after that was different.
Not angry.
Not tense.
Just... real.
Like two people finally seeing the scars they'd earned while apart.
* * *
Later, he sat beside me at the war table.
"The Queen Mother—does she know?"
"She suspects everything. Knows half. Pretends to know none of it."
"And the Thorn Circle?"
"They believe I'm deciding."
His eyes met mine. "And are you?"
"No."
A pause.
"I've already chosen."
* * *
That night, he came to my chambers.
Not for duty. Not for appearances.
For clarity.
He removed his cloak at the door, left his weapons by the wall. There was no fire lit. Only candles—low and flickering.
I poured tea. We didn't speak for several minutes.
Then he said:
"When I was at the border, someone tried to kill me."
I froze.
"They disguised it as an accident. Sabotaged the carriage wheel on the cliff road. Two of my guards died. The third lost his arm."
My throat tightened. "Who?"
"I don't know. But the message was clear: the Circle isn't just whispering anymore. They're hunting."
I handed him the cup.
He took it, his fingers brushing mine.
"I thought of you," he said. "When I saw the rocks give way. When I felt the horses scream. I thought—I never said it."
"Said what?"
"That if I don't return, you must survive. Not for me. For you. Because you're meant to burn through all of them."
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.
"I'm tired of burning alone."
He placed the tea down.
Then he kissed me.
Not with hunger. Not with ownership.
With honesty.
And I kissed him back.
Because in a palace of traitors and thorns, he was still the only one who didn't flinch when I turned sharp.
* * *
We lay together in silence afterward, the storm outside echoing the war inside.
His arm was draped over me, heavy and warm. But I knew this peace was brief.
Tomorrow, we would return to battle.
Together, this time.
"I have a plan," I whispered.
He chuckled softly. "Of course you do."
"We let them believe I've chosen them. That I'm willing to betray you."
"That's dangerous."
"So is doing nothing."
He kissed my temple.
"I trust you."
I closed my eyes.
"Then let's end this. Together."