Chapter 20 #5
Theron walked up the steps of the palace, and the last of the priestesses approached him.
“For treating the gift of Passion with contempt, you will burn,” they chanted.
By the time he walked into the throne room, he felt as though he was more burnt flesh and maddening pain than a man. And yet he had endured.
His courtiers gaped and pointed. They gasped and whispered.
Yet his ears were not for them, his eyes not for them.
They were for her. He stepped forward and got to his knees.
The whispers of his court intensified. Kings only knelt before the gods or in defeat.
But at this moment, he was not a king, merely a man trying to be the husband his wife needed him to be.
Tears gathered in Aurora’s eyes, her hands flying to her mouth as she took in his injuries, his posture.
“Triad bless the star of Aureum,” Myrina began. “King Theron of Aureum undergoes the Rite of the Penitent Lover. Allow him to admit his wrongdoing and make amends.”
Aurora stared at him in horror, blinking at him in shock until Polydorus whispered in her ear.
“I-I will allow it,” she said, her voice thick with emotion.
“I have insulted Passion by treating Her blessing with contempt. I have broken my vow to Her to be worthy of you. I have wronged you, my fated. I have been conceited, thinking you beneath me. I have allowed cowardice to bind my tongue. I have lied to you and broken your trust. I have treated you with the condescension of the ignorant. I spread lies about you because I could not fathom your truth,” he confessed, wincing as nervous sweat rolled down him and into his multitude of burns.
The gathered nobles whispered sharply behind their hands, their stares burning into him as the heated rods had. Focus. They are not your concern. This wasn’t over yet. If he failed to reach Aurora’s heart, none of it would matter.
“You came here to save Trisia from ruin, and I, in my arrogance, stood in your way and aided your enemies. All this and more you bore from me, a man unworthy of the gift Fate and Passion bestowed upon me. I undertake the Rite of the Penitent Lover not because I believe I am worthy of your forgiveness, but because you deserve an apology befitting the wrongs I have done you. If I have irreparably broken the gift you and the goddess bestowed upon me, I will gladly give you everything I have and accept the divine curse placed upon me as my due.”
Then he waited.
The throne room was silent as all eyes turned from him to her, but Aurora only had eyes for him, eyes that shone bright with tears.
The silence stretched on, and he feared that maybe it was too late.
Was the damage he’d done too great to forgive?
He felt dizzy, nauseous, like the ground had opened beneath him.
Fire blazed from that mark above his heart once more.
He closed his eyes in defeat, bracing himself for the pain.
This was it, his punishment for betraying her.
Yet the pain did not come. Heat coursed through him but brought no searing ache.
Theron placed a hand above his heart. The mark was gone, the angry red tendrils fading as his magic returned to him. Relief flooded him.
She’d forgiven him.
Theron healed his injuries and stood, stepping towards his wife. He wanted to hold her in his arms, to feel her against him.
“The Rite of the Penitent Lover is over. King Theron has been forgiven by Princess Aurora. Passion’s blessing is restored,” Myrina announced.
Paladins carried her message to the people of Altanus. A jubilant cry went up, so thunderous it echoed off the walls of the throne room. Aurora jumped from the throne and raced towards him. She leapt into his arms, and he caught her, pulling her close.
“You f-fool,” she hissed, sobbing into his chest.
“I love you, my little fairy,” he whispered into her hair.
“H-how could you do something so reckless?” She held him tighter still, and he could almost forget how many stared.
“I had to prove to you I could be the man you needed me to be.”
“What if I hadn’t forgiven you? What if I hadn’t been able to?” she asked, her gaze stark and horrified.
He put her down and cupped her cheeks as Nireus swathed him in a midnight blue himation.
“Then I would have deserved my fate.”
“You could have proven it some other way!” She pounded on his chest.
“And you would have always wondered if I were truly sincere.” He enfolded her fist in his hand.
She bit her bottom lip as it trembled.
“What happens now?”
“We rule,” he replied, leading her back up to the throne.
Theron sat on the king’s throne and pulled Aurora close, perching her on his lap. She settled against him, and he felt right—whole. He raised his chin at his courtiers.
Let them gossip and whisper. Let them scheme and plot. He had faced his greatest fears, a goddess’ punishment, and the potential loss of his fated—and he had not only endured but triumphed. Whatever they tried to throw at him now, Theron was ready.
And he was not alone.
“The sun and star of Aureum will now hear your petitions.”