Chapter 9
On Eli’s memorial day, the bandages finally came off.
Alaric removed them layer by layer, careful and steady, then handed me a mirror.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.
I took a deep breath.
Then I looked.
After six years, I saw my own face again.
The tears came before I could stop them.
I covered my mouth, breaking down.
Alaric gently wiped my tears with a handkerchief.
“Easy. You just healed.”
Then he pulled out a bouquet from behind him.
“Come on. Let’s go see Eli.”
“Let him see his mom at her best.”
I looked at him, overwhelmed.
Then I nodded.
At the cemetery. Eli’s picture on the headstone was still smiling.
I brushed away the dust with trembling hands.
I talked to him for a long time, about everything, about nothing.
I placed toys by his grave,
One after another.
“Eli, I’ll always remember you.”
“You have to remember me too… okay?”
“When I come find you someday, you need to know it’s me.”
By the end, my eyes were red and swollen.
Alaric didn’t stop me.
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He just stayed there, quietly, until night fell.
Afterward, he drove me home.
On the way, I hesitated for a long time before speaking.
“Dr. Boone… someone like me… you don’t have to be this good to me.”
He cut me off.
“Liora Vance, someone like you is exactly worth it.”
“You’re the strongest, kindest person I’ve ever met.”
He paused, then said it plainly.
“I know what you’re thinking. And yes… I like you.”
My fingers tightened.
I didn’t know what to say.
His voice softened.
“But I know you’re not ready.”
“I’ll stay. As long as it takes for you to walk out of this.”
“No pressure.”
“If someday you can see me that way… that’ll be my luck.”
My vision blurred again.
It took me a long time to answer.
Thank you… Alaric.”
A year later, the divorce was finalized.
Liora Vance and Draven Kessler were officially over.
They said he changed in prison.
Every day, he faced the direction of Eli’s grave… and our parents’.
Apologizing.
Over and over.
He never stopped.
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The guilt ate him alive.
He developed severe stomach issues.
Depression followed.
He wasted away.
Just skin and bone.
Just like I once was.
Later, it got worse.
He started hallucinating.
He saw me strapped to that table.
He heard Eli calling for help.
He lived in that nightmare every day.
Until he couldn’t take it anymore.
He killed himself.
Before he died, he left me a letter,
Filled with apologies and confessions.
I didn’t read it.
I burned it.
As for Maris, prison didn’t go easy on her.
Everyone knew what she did.
They hated her for it.
She was beaten.
Starved.
Humiliated.
Eventually, she broke.
She would sit there, clutching her head, screaming, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Then someone would hit her again,
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In the end, she lost her mind completely.
Severe psychiatric disorder.
Transferred out.
She would never walk free again.
Later, Alaric got an opportunity to train abroad.
He asked me to go with him.
“Liora, it’s time to move forward.”
“I believe in you. You’ll have a life brighter than anything behind you.”
I thought about it.
For a long time.
Then I said yes.
The day before we left, he took me back to the cemetery.
I said goodbye to Ell.
“El… Mommy’s going to fight for her future now.”
“I won’t forget you. I’ll come see you every year.”
Then I went to my parents.
I told them I was okay.
That they didn’t need to worry.
That I would live well.
Better than ever,
The next day, the plane took off as the sun dipped below the horizon.
The light faded.
But I knew my life was just beginning.
Chapter 1 The king has come back!
