𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥 (𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐃)

Chapter 66: Flavors of Guilt and Regret

The magic stone in my bedroom burned low, casting a circle of gold against the dark walls. Outside, the palace was quiet. Even the guards seemed to walk softer tonight.

Arsen sat on the floor at my feet, his back against the side of my chair. His hands rested lightly on my knees, as if he was afraid I might vanish if he let go.

Arsen broke the quiet, looking up at me. "Are you finally ready to tell me, Calypso? Everything that happened to you... in the first timeline?" He asked. His voice was careful. Not demanding. Just open, and waiting.

I stared at the pattern in the rug. My fingers gripped the arms of the chair until my knuckles ached. For a long time I said nothing. The word had been lodged in my throat since I woke up in this life. 

Then I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. 

"Yes," I said. "I'm ready."

Arsen didn't move. He only tightened his hold, grounding me.

I closed my eyes.

"It started when you went to visit Constantine's residence with Phoebe," I began, voice dangerously calm, devoid of the emotion tearing at my inside. "I was working in my study as usual—reviewing the border supply logs. I remember feeling a sudden strange, sharp ache in my abdomen, but I dismissed it as exhaustion. Then, everything went black. I collapsed at my desk."

He listened intently, his gaze locked onto my face, his jaw tight.

"When I woke up, the royal physician was standing over me. His face was very pale," I continued, voice steady, but distant, like I was describing someone else. "He told me... he told me I had suffered a miscarriage. He said it was due to extreme stress and severe overwork. I didn't even know I was pregnant."

Arsen flinched as if I had struck him. His eyes widened in absolute shock, the color instantly draining from his face.

"A... a child?" He whispered, his voice trembling violently.

He went very still as he stared at me, horrified by his own ignorance.

His head lifted slowly, eyes searching mine in the dim light. Shock moved across his face, followed by something raw and broken. 

"A child?" He whispered. "Ours?"

I nodded once.

He made a sound that wasn't quite a word. His hands shook against my knees. 

"I never thought—" he said, voice cracking. "I never knew." Tears welled before he could stop them. "Calypso, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should have protected you. I should have known. I should have—"

I offered a bitter, phantom smile, staring past him.

"I didn't even have time to mourn our lost child, Arsen. Upon waking up to that news, the war arrived at our doorstep. Landon burst into my chambers. He gave me the report: you had been captured by Constantine. His rebel armies were already marching toward the imperial palace."

Arsen's breath hitched, as if it was hard for him to breathe.

"The palace was in pure chaos," I whispered, my gaze hardening as the memory of smoke and iron washed over me. "There was no time to cry. I took my bow. I gathered whatever remaining imperial soldiers were left. We fought, Arsen. I shot arrow after arrow until my fingers bled, standing alongside our guards as the gates crumbled. But it was entirely futile. We were outnumbered tenfold."

I paused, my throat tightening, but I forced myself to keep going. The worst parts were coming.

"They breached the inner sanctum. Then they captured me. Constantine..." My voice trembled for the first time, a flash of pure terror crossing my eyes. "He didn't just want the throne. He wanted to break me, so he... he raped me. Then he locked me in the dungeons. I was tortured for days. He took everything he could to humiliate the Empress."

A harsh, choked sob escaped Arsen's throat. He reached up, grasping at my knees, his knuckles turning white as he listened to the horrific violations I had endured while he was helpless to save me.

It was clear that whatever empathy, understanding, or pity Arsen had ever harbored for Constantine in his heart was instantly, entirely shattered into dust. It was replaced by a dark, murderous fury that warred with his grief.

"But he wasn't done," I continued, my voice dropping to a hollow, broken whisper. "He dragged me out to the courtyard, forcing me to watch. One by one, he brought out all of my closest aides. The people who had served us faithfully for years. He executed them right in front of my eyes, laughing as their blood pooled at my feet."

Arsen was weeping openly now, the agony of my words tearing his soul apart.

"And then came the final blow," I said, a single, heavy tear finally escaping my eye and tracing down my cheek. "Constantine visited my cell, he smiled at me, walked forward, then told his man to toss a bloodied sack onto the ground. I opened it..." My voice trembled. "It was your severed head. He mocked your final moments. Seeing you dead... that was when I finally broke. The last piece of my sanity just shattered."

Arsen let out a strangled cry of pure anguish. He buried his face against my knees, his body shaking with violent, uncontrollable sobs.

"Once he saw I was completely broken, he ordered my public execution," I finished, my voice flat, returning to that eerie calm. "They dragged me to the town square. The entire city was forced to watch. I remember the cold press of the wooden block against my cheek. I remember the sound of the crowd. And then, I felt the sharp, agonizing bite of the blade cutting deep into my neck. The world went dark... and then I suddenly woke up, gasping for air, back in the past. Back before it all began."

The story was over, leaving the room suffocated by the phantom horrors of a dead timeline.

Arsen completely broke down. He collapsed against my legs, sliding further down until he was sitting flat on the floor. He buried his face entirely into my lap, his tears soaking right through the fabric of my skirt.

He wept with a raw, guttural agony, his chest heaving as the monstrous guilt of a hundred failures consumed him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Calypso," he wept hysterically, his voice muffled against my lap but carrying the full weight of his shattered heart. "It's my fault... it's all my fault. I wasn't there. I couldn't protect our child. I couldn't protect you. I let him hurt you... I let him destroy everything. I am so sorry..."

He kept repeating the apologies like a mantra of penance, his grip tightened as if he were terrified that if I let go, I would slip back into that nightmare and vanish forever.

He choked back a sob, as he finally forced himself to look up. His eyes were completely bloodshot, his face stained with tears, but beneath the devastating grief, a fierce, unbreakable resolve was taking root.

He took my shaking hands in his, pressing them against his lips, his forehead leaning against my knees.

"I will make it up to you, Calypso," he swore, his voice trembling but filled with an absolute, desperate gravity. "I swear it on my life, on my soul, on everything I am. In this timeline, or the next, I will spend every single second of my existence making it up to you."

I sat frozen for a moment before slowly lowering my trembling hands, gently resting them in his hair, allowing him to weep for the horrors we had finally left behind.

***

Author's Note:

Finally, the part you've been waiting for. I know some of you kept asking about when Arsen would find out, so here we go. Hope you guys like it.