In the dead of night, deep within Prince Thoris's private quarters, a bitter, lingering cold filled the air.
The hearth in his personal study had long since died, and Thoris had never bothered to have anyone light it again. The harsh, biting freeze of the Steppes clung to the room—and especially around Thoris himself. He stood rigid before the tall, unglazed window, staring out at the vast, dark grasslands instead of paying attention to the man trembling behind him.
"Boy... where is your father?"
Thoris's deep voice boomed across the dark room, a raw, dangerous edge cutting through the air.
Velos Reinhardt shifted uncomfortably. As Duke Reinhardt's eldest son, Velos was the primary contact in the secret plot to strip Cassian of his title, ruin his standing as Crown Prince, and force him into Thoris's bed as a tribal bride. But now that the plan had failed, he was forced to face Thoris himself.
When Velos hesitated to answer, Thoris pierced him with a sudden, vicious side-glare and Velos visibly shook, gulping down his own words.
"G-Great warrior..." Velos stammered, his hands shaking at his sides.
"Y-You need to calm down."
"Oh, I am calm."
Thoris didn't turn around, but his voice was tight with anger.
"I am perfectly calm."
Velos tried his best to keep his composure, though his legs felt like lead.
"My father has been held up by the Emperor and Chieftain Tamil back-to-back in meetings! It has been almost impossible to see him lately!"
"Is that so?" Thoris turned slowly, his eyes glowing like a predator's in the dim light. "Or is he simply hiding like a coward after the pathetic failure he caused?"
Velos swallowed hard, cold sweat dripping down his neck.
"My bride—the one who was supposed to belong to me by yesterday—is nowhere near my side!"
Thoris roared, stepping forward as his rage boiled over.
"Cassian was supposed to carry my heir! He was supposed to marry into my tribe and lead beside me! But your father allowed that silver knight to ruin everything me!... And now that very knight has taken what is mine and planted his own seed inside of him instead!"
Thoris glared down at the young heir, his towering frame casting a massive, terrifying shadow.
"And it makes me wonder, Velos... was your father ever actually determined to sell off his Crown Prince to the Madurai stronghold at the first place?"
"Of course he was!" Velos cried out in pure panic, backing into the door frame. "My father is a man of his word! He wanted Cassian off that throne more than anyone else!"
"Then why didn't he hold back the Holy Knight as planned?!"
"It was no easy task, my Lord!" Velos pleaded, his voice cracking. "A man like Lucien Arden is not easy to fool or stall!...but what about you?" Velos blurted out, terror driving him to speak recklessly.
"My great Lord... why didn't you take Cassian back to your chambers yourself?!"
"There was no time!" Thoris hissed, stepping directly into Velos's space. "I only needed to do what I had to do and get it over with! All I had to do was impregnate Cassian Valemont! But none of it worked! And now... isn't it too late?! The silver knight has already marked him! Do you have any idea how much I hate losing?! Especially to *him*?!"
Thoris slammed his massive fist down onto the heavy oak desk.
*CRACK!*
And the thick wooden surface split right down the middle, splintering with a deafening bang. Velos jumped, standing straight up, his heart hammering against his ribs as Thoris's rage pressed right against his face.
"Get out,"
Thoris growled in a low, dangerous whisper. Velos didn't waste another second as he scrambled out of the study, slamming the heavy door behind him.
Left alone in the dark room, Thoris stood over the ruined desk, his knuckles white, his chest heaving as he stared down at his trembling hands.
"How am I ever supposed to face my ancestors after such a disgrace?" he rasped to the empty room.
"I lost... To that knight... I lost my bride!!"
*****
Nearly an hour later, Thoris dragged his feet out of the study and into his private bedchamber.
The room was quiet and warm. In the center of the chamber, curled beneath thick, heavy furs, lay Adrian. He was sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of the storm brewing outside his door.
Thoris walked over and sat heavily on the edge of the mattress, his back turned to Adrian. The bed shifted beneath his weight, and Adrian slowly stirred awake, rubbing his eyes.
"...Thoris?"
Adrian asked softly, his voice thick with sleep.
"...You're finally back."
He rubbed one eye.
"...Are you alright?"
No answer.
Adrian sat up.
"Thoris?"
"...Did something happen?, You haven't been yourself lately...are you alright?"
"Do I look alright to you?"
Thoris replied, his voice flat, staring straight at the dark wall.
Adrian sat up, pulling the furs over his chest. "What is wrong?"
"You must be thrilled,"
Thoris said, a bitter, humorless laugh escaping his throat.
"You must be celebrating inside because my plans for Cassian went completely wrong. You were always jealous of him taking your place here anyway."
Adrian frowned, confusion crossing his delicate face.
"Thoris, what are you talking about? I—"
"SAVE IT!" Thoris roared, tilting his head sharply, though his back remained toward Adrian.
Adrian flinched, instinctively curling the thick furs tightly around his chest. He had known Thoris was planning something concerning Cassian, and he had prayed it would fail, and he had never known the terrible details of it all.
But hearing that it had failed brought a quiet wave of relief for his brother's safety. Adrian closed his eyes briefly.
'Thank goodness...Cassian was safe.'
That single thought crossed his mind before he could stop it.
Unfortunately...Thoris narrowed his eyes, catching the faint change in Adrian's expression.
"You sighed."
Adrian looked up.
"What?"
"You sounded relieved."
"...No."
"You were relieved."
Thoris finally faced him.
"Weren't you?"
Adrian hesitated.
"I..."
"I asked you a question. Or are you silent because you know you're guilty?"
"I am silent because I have nothing to say to you!" Adrian snapped back, a sudden surge of hurt rising in his chest.
"You came in here already convinced that I am happy about a plan I didn't even know details about! Yes, you told me you had a way to win him over, but I knew nothing about how it was done or how it ended! And for your information, I *was* jealous of Cassian once... but not anymore!"
"Adrian..."
Thoris's voice dropped into a rough, hoarse whisper, turning his body slightly to glare over his shoulder.
"Are you talking back to me right now?"
Adrian swallowed hard, seeing the dark, unstable look in Thoris's eyes.
'He is looking for a fight,' Adrian thought, his pulse caught heavy on his throat.
'And I shouldn't give it to him. It's better not to push him when he is like this.'
"I'm sorry," Adrian murmured, lowering his gaze.
"I won't do it again."
"You had better not," Thoris sneered, his tone dripping with arrogance.
"Just because I have been gentle with you lately doesn't mean I am afraid to put you back in your place. I only acted like that to put on a show for Cassian! I wanted to convince him that I could be a good husband, and that marrying me wouldn't be so terrible! But now that he's gone, what's the point of holding back anymore?!"
Thoris leaned in close, his voice cutting like a blade.
"So watch your tongue from now on okay?... And remember well that you are nothing but a good-for-nothing prince the Empire forced onto me!"
At that moment something inside Adrian snapped. The weeks of quiet endurance, the desperate hopes, the pathetic longing for Thoris's gentleness—it all burned away in a single second.
"A good-for-nothing?!" Adrian yelled, sitting straight up, his eyes flashing with raw fury. "Look at me, Thoris! And look at me carefully!!....If I am a good-for-nothing, then how are you any better?! Tell me, what are you actually good at as a 'great warrior' besides being a crude brute?! All you do is shout, drown yourself in alcohol, and fail to keep what's inside your pants to yourself!"
"ENOUGH!"
Before Adrian could finish, a thunderous slap cracked square across his face.
The force threw Adrian completely off the bed and he hit the stone floor with a painful gasp, his head spinning.
Before he could even gather his breath, Thoris stood up, rounded the bed, and grabbed Adrian by his hair and he dragged him across the floor back toward the mattress while Adrian struggled frantically to free himself, kicking and pulling at Thoris's wrist.
"Thoris, stop! Let go of me!" Adrian cried out, panic seizing his throat.
"My father is in the Steppes right now! If I tell him—"
"He will what?!" Thoris snarled, yanking him up and shoving him back onto the mattress. "Are you going to run crying to him like a child?!, and tell him how your husband disciplines you?!"
"Then go ahead! But remember one thing—you are married to me, and your father won't stay here forever to protect you."
Thoris began unbuckling his armor and belt with harsh, impatient movements.
Adrian's face went pale as he tried to scramble toward the other side of the bed, his voice trembling violently.
"Thoris... please, don't do this! You'll harm the baby! I am pregnant with your child, remember?!"
"So what?!" Thoris sneered, grabbing Adrian's ankle and dragging him back down. "How does that stop me from taking my own spouse?!"
"With the mood you are in, you will be too rough!" Tears finally spilled over Adrian's cheeks as he pleaded, his hands reaching out defensively.
"Please, I am begging you! The doctor said this phase is very delicate for us! He said we have to be careful!"
Thoris scoffed coldly.
"We can always try again. It's not the end of the world."
Adrian stared at him in utter disbelief.
As Thoris leaned down over him, Adrian gathered all his remaining strength and kicked Thoris hard in the chest to push him away. But Thoris's broad, heavy frame didn't even budge. Instead, the blow only enraged him further and Thoris struck him across the face again.
*SLAP!*
Then a second time. Then a third.
The heavy, brutal blows kept coming until Adrian was thrown off the bed once more, crashing onto the cold floor. Thoris stood over him, kicking him viciously, letting out all his built-up frustration on Adrian's body.
Adrian couldn't even use his mana to shield himself. He had let his guard down over the past few weeks, genuinely believing Thoris was growing softer and genuinely caring for him and the baby.
But it turns out it had all been an act to impress Cassian. He had been a naive fool believing that.
Desperate to protect the life inside him, Adrian curled his body into a tight ball, wrapping both arms firmly over his stomach to absorb the brutal blows instead of his belly.
*****
"Open your eyes if you're still awake," Thoris's rough voice demanded from above.
But Adrian lay there, his mind swimming with chaotic thoughts. His ears rang loudly as they bled, his face was swollen, and blood trickled from his nose and forehead endlessly. He could barely even keep one eye open.
"You look pathetic,"
Thoris spat, looking down at him.
"So much for someone who can run his mouth."
"Thoris..." Adrian choked out, his voice a shaky, broken whisper as he tried to crawl toward him, his hand reaching out to clutch at Thoris's boot.
"Is this... what you've reduced me to?, Your punching bag?"
Suddenly, a sharp, searing pain shot through Adrian's lower abdomen.
He froze. A sudden, terrifying wave of hot fluid trickled down his inner thighs and Adrian looked down at himself in pure horror. It wasn't just light spotting. No.
It was a dark, heavy blood that quickly soaked through his night garments, spreading across the stone floor beneath him.
One of Thoris's heavy kicks had landed directly against his core.
"Thoris..."
Adrian rasped, his eyes wide with absolute, gut-wrenching terror. The words scraped out of his throat, barely louder than a whisper.
"You... you killed your own child... Are you happy now?!"
Adrian tried to scream, but no sound came out. The pain inside his abdomen was overwhelming, blinding, and ruthless. Darkness crept into the edges of his vision while his hand slipped from Thoris's boot, and his head thudded softly against the bloody floor as he lost consciousness.
Silence fell over the chamber.
Thoris stood frozen, staring down at the pool of deep red spreading beneath Adrian's motionless body.
"Adrian...?"
Thoris called out, his voice suddenly losing its harshness, replaced by a strange, hollow tremor.
No answer.
Thoris looked at his own boots, then at the blood on the floor, and finally at Adrian's pale, blood-stained face. The fury that had consumed him for days evaporated in an instant, replaced by a cold, suffocating realization.
"No..."
Thoris whispered, dropping heavily to his knees in the blood. He reached out with trembling hands, pulling Adrian's limp upper body into his arms.
"Hey Adrian! Wake up!"
The blood kept coming, soaking through Thoris's clothes, staining his hands dark red.
"NO! SOMEONE! GUARDS!" Thoris's frantic roar tore through the quiet night, echoing wildly off the stone walls of the palace.
"HEALERS! GET IN HERE NOW!"
The heavy double doors burst open as guards and servants rushed into the room. The moment they saw the gruesome scene—the royal prince unconscious in a pool of his own blood and Thoris covered in red—the chamber erupted into utter panic. Healers scrambled forward with glowing magic, pushing past the frozen prince.
Thoris remained on his knees, staring down at his hands. They were soaked in his unborn child's blood.
For the first time in his life, the great warrior of the Iron Steppes felt no anger, no pride, and no ambition. He only felt an all-consuming, terrifying horror at what he had just done.
*****