Chapter 229: Protective Flames
Elara cried out, "No! Let him go, you monster!" She lunged forward and grabbed Ivan’s wrist, only to release a sharp, pained scream as his scorching body temperature burned her instantly. She recoiled, clutching her hand, and howled in distress, "Someone help him! Somebody stop him!"
As Septimus watched the scene unfold in horror, the vision he had seen days ago resurfaced with chilling clarity:
People screaming, someone howling...a woman. And fire, fire everywhere. A complete mayhem...and then he saw King Solan clearly: his blue eyes wide with terror, fire reflecting in his pupils, gasping for breath. His long blonde hair was in complete disarray, and the flames danced across his horrified expression.
He bowed swiftly. "Prince Ivan, I beseech you...please, calm yourself. What you are about to do will carry consequences far worse than you realise. Think of your father and your kingdom. Do you truly wish to wage war against the very kingdom to which Princess Evelyn belongs?"
But Ivan’s burning eyes never left the king, who was now choking and clawing helplessly at Ivan’s hand, desperate to free himself from the searing grip around his throat.
Without looking away, Ivan asked in a low and deadly voice, "So you are telling me I should simply forgive a man who dared to attack Eve?"
Septimus fell silent, unable to form an answer.
Ivan continued, his tone cold enough to make the flames behind him crackle in response, "And do not trouble yourself about my father or my kingdom. My people will fight anyone necessary, should the need arise."
At that statement, the two High Council members, who had just finished securing the queen and prince, rushed towards Ivan in urgency.
Lucian spoke first, "Prince Ivan, I understand you are upset, but war is not the answer. The High Council will not permit it."
Ivan finally shifted his molten, dangerous eyes upon the man, "The High Council? And where were you when this so-called king threatened to wage war on our kingdom only moments ago?"
Lucian swallowed before replying quickly, "We can resolve this through calm discussion. Please, release King Solan before the situation spirals any further out of control."
The trembling ground began to shake even more violently, as though a powerful earthquake were ripping through the land. People stumbled, some gasping in horror as a wave of nervous tension rippled through the air, each of them dreading what might happen next.
Cece, Damien, Edward, Oliver, and the two professors remained silent. Not one of them lifted a finger to stop Ivan; they knew he wouldn’t stop, and the Lumen King deserved to face Ivan’s wrath for his earlier actions.
"You do not order me. I listen to no one....do you understand?" Ivan growled, glaring at Lucian. The intensity of that molten stare made Lucian instinctively step back in fright.
He had been on the council for many years, had dealt with countless nobles without fear, but the man before him was in an entirely different league. Lucian had always known Prince Ivan was the strongest man alive, but now he understood why...because Ivan was the very same celestial being who had once saved this planet from doom.
And in that moment, Lucian held no doubt whatsoever: if provoked, Ivan would destroy the world if he had to.
Swallowing hard, his brown gaze shifted to the one person he believed might be capable of stopping Ivan....Princess Evelyn. But she just stood there with a cold, emotionless expression, as though the man in Ivan’s grasp bore no relation to her at all.
’What in the world is happening? Does she not fear for her father?’
Judging by the exchange between father and daughter, it was abundantly clear they did not see eye to eye. Even so, shouldn’t she at least be alarmed that her partner might burn him alive?
Lucian had no idea what to make of it. Still, he steeled himself to try once more. War between two powerful kingdoms would send shockwaves through the High Council, and he knew they could not allow it to begin here.
So he strode towards Evelyn, but before he could take a single step closer, flames erupted around her. Lucian’s heart plummeted for a terrifying moment because he thought she would be engulfed and burned alive.
But Evelyn stood utterly unflinching as the flames curled around her like a lover’s caress.
Shocked beyond words, Lucian somehow managed to find his voice. "Princess Evelyn, please, you must stop this!"
Evelyn shifted her golden eyes to him for the first time. As she regarded him, she realised he bore a faint resemblance to Oliver, and asked calmly, "And who might you be?"
Lucian, taken aback by her sudden question, cleared his throat, nerves prickling under the sheer spiritual pressure she exuded.....just like the Goddess of Light the lumens worshipped. He introduced himself, "My name is Lucian Whitelance. I am a member of the High Council and the eldest son of the Duke of the Whitelance family in Luminear."
"So you are Lord Oliver’s brother," she said, more like a statement.
"That’s correct, Your Highness." Lucian’s voice trembled despite his effort to steady it. He cast a worried glance at Ivan, who was still holding King Solan in the air by the throat, fire swirling around him like a damned god of wrath and panic spiked in his chest.
"Please, Your Highness....you must end this. A war between two kingdoms of such magnitude would tear the continent apart."
Evelyn tilted her head, "But isn’t that what King Solan wished for? Did he not threaten Ivan with war only moments ago?"
Lucian winced. "Y-Yes, but we would never allow it to escalate. If Prince Ivan harms the king, the consequences-His Highness....please, you must stop him before it is too late."
"And why?" she asked in a dangerously soft voice, "So the king can continue insulting me? So he can go on dictating who I may or may not love?"
She turned her golden gaze toward Solan, "Lord Lucian," she said, voice calm yet thundering with ancient power, "there are no actions without consequences. Not in this world. Not in any world."
"The gods grant no one immunity," she murmured.
Her eyes grew distant, and her next words slipped out in a whisper, "Not even the two of us were spared."
The flames around her flared in response and curled around her protectively, as if echoing a grief centuries old.
Lucian fell silent as he recalled what Zevran’s apparition had revealed to them. He then turned his gaze towards Solan and said, "Very well. You have my word that what is written in the Luminear constitution will be upheld."
Eve shifted her golden eyes back to him, and he added quickly, "The law stating that no royal shall be forced into marriage with anyone will be honoured. The High Council will ensure it."
Eve studied him in silence for a moment longer before replying, "Even without the Council’s involvement, no one can make me do anything I do not wish to do."
Her eyes flared brighter, and Lucian swallowed hard. But to his relief, she finally took small, purposeful steps forward until she stood behind Ivan.
Reaching out, she placed a hand on his shoulder, an action that made Elara’s eyes fly wide in shock. She herself had suffered a severe burn merely touching Ivan’s wrist for a second, yet Evelyn touched him freely without so much as a flinch. And not only that, Eve now stood wholly surrounded by his flames, completely unharmed, as though the fire itself bowed to her.
Elara could not begin to process it when she heard Evelyn finally speak.
"Ivan...calm down."
At the sound of her voice, he turned his head slightly, molten eyes meeting hers. She slid her hand across his back in a gentle caress, a touch that worked like a balm upon the blistering fury consuming him.
"Let me speak to him...trust me," she murmured.
Wordlessly, still holding her gaze, Ivan released Solan, letting him drop like a discarded sack of grain. Elara and Gideon immediately scrambled to the king’s side, fretting over his condition, while Solan himself glared furiously at both Ivan and Evelyn, one hand rubbing at the fresh burn seared into his neck.
Septimus knelt beside the king and said quietly, "Your Majesty, allow me to heal your neck."
When Solan failed to respond, still too consumed by rage and humiliation, Septimus simply set to work, channeling healing light into the scorched skin along the king’s throat.
Ivan gave Eve a silent nod to go ahead, and she stepped forward. Her cold golden eyes lowered to meet Solan’s, "Your Majesty," she began.
Solan met her golden eyes, and she continued fearlessly, "I asked Ivan to stop....not because I fear the war you threaten to unleash upon the kingdoms, but for the sake of the innocents who would lose their lives should such a conflict erupt between two powerful kingdoms, all because you wish to coerce me for your own selfish purposes."
She paused briefly, letting it sink in, "Do not mistake this for weakness. Because if the need ever arises, I will fight for my rights and for my freedom to choose whom I wish to be with. Your opinion holds no weight here.....just as no one else’s opinion mattered when you chose to marry my mother, the woman you claimed to love so deeply."
