{ a few hours later}
The evening air in the Royal Wing was thick with the scent of rain and blooming jasmine a scent that now felt less like a chemical lie and more like a haunting memory. Arion sat in his private chamber, the rusted iron box resting on his lap. Kyon had allowed the boys to keep it, but Aiden, sensing the gravity of the "Queen Secrets," had brought it straight to his Papa.
Arion traced the faded script on the parchment: "The Jade Heart is a cage, but your blood is a song."
A soft knock sounded at the door. It wasn't the sharp, rhythmic rap of a guard or the frantic tapping of Lorcan. It was hesitant.
"Enter," Arion said, his voice steadier than he felt.
Kyon stepped inside. He had changed out of his dirt-stained silks into a simple tunic, his hair still damp from the evening mist. He looked at the box, then at Arion, and for the first time, he didn't lower his gaze in shame. He looked... tired of hiding.
"Aiden told me what he found," Kyon said, leaning against the doorframe. "I haven't seen that box since I was six years old. My mother told me she'd buried it where the King would never find it. I thought the gardeners had destroyed it years ago."
Arion held up the dried wild jasmine. "She loved you, Kyon. In her own fractured, brilliant way, she tried to warn you."
Kyon walked over, sitting on the edge of the low table across from Arion. "She tried to save me from becoming what my father wanted. But the chemicals were faster than her letters. By the time I was ten, the 'song' she wrote about was drowned out by the noise of the laboratory."
He reached out, his fingers hovering over the parchment but never touching it, as if he feared his very presence would turn it to ash. "I spent my life thinking I was a monster because I was born 'wrong.' I thought the only way to be 'right' was to be the most powerful person in the room. But today, when Aiden ran to me... when he showed me that letter... I realized I've been fighting a war against a ghost for twenty years."
Arion looked at the man before him. The bruises he had inflicted days ago were gone, but the scars in Kyon's eyes were deeper than ever. He thought of his mother's words: "He is a monster who is trying to grow a heart."
"The logbook," Arion said suddenly, his voice a low rasp.
Kyon stilled. "What about it?"
Arion reached into the hidden compartment of his desk and pulled out the slim, leather bound volume, the evidence of Kyon's treason, his chemical heresy, and his absolute deception. He placed it on the table between them, right next to the Queen's rusted box.
"I've spent every night since the wedding deciding which version of the truth to tell the world," Arion said, his eyes searching Kyon's. "I wanted to destroy the Serpent. I wanted to see you stripped of your titles and dragged through the streets."
Kyon nodded slowly, his expression resigned. "You had every right. I gave you the weapon myself."
"But then I saw you in the garden," Arion continued, his heart hammering against his ribs. "I saw you through my mother's eyes. And I saw Aiden. He doesn't see a Serpent, Kyon. He sees a father who listens. He sees a man who is trying, however clumsily, to be better than the world that made him."
Arion picked up the logbook. The paper felt heavy, like lead.
"If I keep this, I am a jailer," Arion whispered. "If I send it, I am an executioner. But if I do neither..."
With a sudden, decisive movement, Arion stood and walked to the fireplace. He didn't wait for Kyon to stop him. He threw the logbook into the glowing embers.
Kyon gasped, half rising from his seat. "Arion! That was your leverage! Your only protection if I ever turned back!"
The flames hungrily licked at the leather cover, the pages curling and blackening, turning the secrets of Project Phoenix into drifting soot. Arion turned back to Kyon, his face illuminated by the firelight.
"I don't want protection from a ghost," Arion said, his voice fierce. "And I don't want a marriage built on a threat. If you're going to be a monster, Kyon, be one. But if you're going to be the man who held my son today... then be that man because you want to be, not because I'm holding a knife to your throat."
Kyon stood frozen, staring at the dying fire. The silence in the room changed. It wasn't the awkward, cold silence of the past months. It was something new a vacuum waiting to be filled.
Slowly, Kyon crossed the room. He didn't grab Arion, and he didn't use his scent to command. He simply stopped a few inches away, his eyes shimmering with a raw, agonizing gratitude that made Arion's breath hitch.
"You burned it," Kyon whispered, his voice trembling. "Why?"
"Because Aiden deserves a father who isn't a lie," Arion said. "And because... I think I'm tired of being a warrior, Kyon. I just want to be a father. And maybe, eventually... a partner."
Kyon let out a ragged, broken sound a sob that he finally didn't try to hide. He reached out, his hand trembling as he touched Arion's shoulder. This time, Arion didn't flinch. He leaned into the touch, closing the gap.
Kyon pulled him into a hug that was nothing like their violent coupling. It was desperate, clinging, and filled with a silent apology that words could never convey. Arion wrapped his arms around the King, feeling the steady thrum of Kyon's heart a heart that wasn't a chemical construct, but a living, hurting thing.
"I'll prove it," Kyon promised into the crook of Arion's neck. "Every day. I'll prove I'm worth the fire you just started."
Arion pulled back just enough to look at him. "Don't prove it to me, Kyon. Prove it to the boy with your eyes. He's the one who found the jasmine."
I'm sorry kyon but I'm not ready to believe you ,as a long as you believe that book is burned ,everything will be fine and I'll see the real you by then . Arion thought deeply.
No matter how much times and years it takes.