Reborn to Flee My Fiance's Obsession (Fiona and Soren) novel Chapter 270

270 Royal Fury

Blood seeped through Zephyr’s hunting cloak, a startling bloom against the trampled grass. Emperor Aldric wheeled on the guards, voice splitting the cold air. “You useless sluggards! If anything happens to Zephyr, each of you will be buried with him!”

The servants, faces drained chalk–white, collapsed to their knees and shook so hard their foreheads brushed the dirt.

Fiona had never seen the emperor’s features knotted into such predatory shadow; the sight sent a cold wick of fear sliding down her spine.

After probing Zephyr’s pulse, the royal physician straightened, relief softening his stiff shoulders. “His life is not in danger, Your Majesty.”

Color crept back into Emperor Aldric’s face. “Carry Zephyr home at once.”

Turning to Fiona, he gentled his tone like the sun after hail. “We owe this entirely to you, my dear.”

“Send Zephyr home first, Uncle Aldric. I can look after myself,” Fiona answered, voice steady as river stone.

Reluctant, the emperor cast a final look her way. “This road is treacherous. Guards, escort her home. If anything befalls her, your

heads will answer!”

Yet even relieved, Fiona felt ice crawl beneath her skin. After learning Zephyr would live, the emperor never once dismounted to comfort his son. It was not a father’s fear she had witnessed–it was the terror of a monarch who might lose his sole heir.

Royal affection, she realized, was a thin frost over cold stone.

“Let’s go,” Xavier murmured, breaking her thoughts.

Surrounded by royal guards, Fiona held her tongue during the ride back. Only after reaching their lodging did she breathe, “Being a prince can scarcely be enviable.”

“It is not royalty alone,” Xavier said, gaze earnest. “The higher the power, the heavier the chain. Any of us may be sacrificed for our families.”

“My father would never,” Fiona replied, eyes unwavering. “No matter his rank, he would not abandon me.”

“Yet you stand ready to bleed for the Niven family,” he countered softly.

“Choosing sacrifice is different from being chosen as the sacrifice.”

Xavier’s eyes darkened. “Some people arrive at the same end, whether it is their choice or not.”

“Even so, the hurt remains,” Fiona whispered. “In the life before this one, was Lord Soren ever placed in such a position?”

Soren had vanished for an entire year. Perhaps Alexander, too, had prepared to discard his own son.

The thought chilled Fiona, for it explained why Soren’s once–bright spirit had hardened into distant ice–untouchable, indifferent, impossible to read.

He would die for the Zonfrillo family, she knew, yet learning his father had written him off must have carved pain even pride could

not conceal

Chapter 270 Royal Fury

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“Perhaps,” Xavier said at last, voice nearly lost to the rustle of leaves.

“Last life, more than glory, I wanted him safe,” Fiona confessed. “Each time he rode out, terror twisted my stomach. I wished he could accept some quiet post in Jexburgh, where blades could not find him.”

Unfortunately, Soren had never been the man to set power down once it was in his grasp.

Light shifted in Xavier’s eyes, but he let silence answer.

“After you were gone, Pearl confessed that every time Soren left the capital, you wept in secret,” he uttered.

“Only the first year after our wedding,” Fiona answered with a rueful smile. “Later, I learned to let the tears stay inside.”

“Soren failed to treasure you,” Xavier murmured. “He never understood that within the Zonfrillo family, you alone placed him above all else.”

“Were you angry with me earlier, Mr. Xavier?” Fiona suddenly asked, tilting her head.

The light traced the stern angles of Xavier’s face, yet his voice remained low and even. “I am not upset with you, Fiona. I fear only that Prince Zephyr may mislead you. Handsome and powerful though he is, that does not make him a good man.”

Fiona nodded, a small, knowing smile curving her lips. “Yes. Mr. Xavier, you are the good man here.”

Xavier paused, the stillness lasting no more than a breath, but his composure never shifted. “What do you mean by that, Fiona?”

Mischief danced behind Fiona’s lashes. “Figure it out on your own, Mr. Xavier.”

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