Chapter 195
Darius pov
I didn’t believe her.
I didn’t want to. My heart pounded violently against my chest as I stared at her in a daze. I wanted to scream, to demand if she was crazy, to ask how dare she speak those words again but I couldn’t.
I couldn’t even make a sound. The world seemed to freeze around us.
There was no way… no way she was telling the truth. My Liana had died years ago. She couldn’t be the one standing before me.
But then again… how could she have known all of that? Those were things only Liana and I shared back then, words between us alone. How could it be possible? Had she overheard it somehow and was now lying?
Either way, whatever the reason… why was my heart racing? Why did I feel this strange, overwhelming urge to believe her? And most of all… why was I staring at her as if she was Liana?
“Darius… could it be?” Silas’s voice echoed deep in my mind. “Could she be Liana? Our late mate… the one we loved?”
His tone was filled with hope, eagerness, and desperation. Before I could stop myself, the mask I had worn for all these years cracked. I took a step back, shaking my head, muttering under my breath.
“No… no, it can’t be,” I scoffed, my gaze hardening as I glared at her.
She let out a soft breath, her eyes softening as a tear slid down her cheek.
“You can’t be Liana. S–she is gone… she is dead. How dare you say you are her!” I roared, my lycan voice shaking the room.
But she didn’t flinch. She held her ground, meeting my gaze as her voice trembled with each word.
“That is because I have been reborn, Darius. Reborn as your mate again, in this life, to be with you… to reclaim the time we lost together.” A tear slid down her cheek as she swallowed hard. “I know it’s hard to believe. I didn’t know my identity either, not until that day in that room. But now… I remember. And I want you to know… I am Liana.”
A scoff escaped me, a surge of rage rising at her insistence. She dared still claim to be Liana.
But she didn’t falter. Even as the room seemed to thicken with my killing intent, heavy and intense, she continued, trying to convince me.
“Do you remember the first time we met? It was in the garden. My father, a rich merchant back then, had come to pay respect to the king and left me alone, telling me to sit still until he returned. But I couldn’t,” she chuckled, as though recalling it brought amusement.
“I remember being so bored that, while my personal maid was distracted, I sneaked away and ended up in the garden and there you were too, sneaking away to avoid training that day. You were asleep, and the moment
were mates. Haha.”
I blinked at her words, stunned. She was right. That was how we had met, how we had discovered we were
mates.
“And then, after spending time together, we fell in love. It felt so natural, we just knew we were meant to be. You used to call me your soulmate, remember? You would say I was your other half. Then you were chosen as king, and it kept you busy for a while, but even then, you’d sneak away with me to the garden whenever you could. I loved those moments, Darius. I really did. Oh, and when you disguised yourself just so we could walk around the pack, and you’d buy me all sorts of treats… I loved all of them, but my favorite was the frozen strawberries dipped in honey. Remember how much I loved them? You would buy so many, and I’d always end up with a stomach ache from eating too much.”
She chuckled softly, shaking her head at how silly it sounded, but the more she spoke, the more my world seemed to blur, my eyes widening. How… how did she know all of this?
“Everything seemed perfect then. We only saw each other, loved each other so much… but then, in a blink, everything fell apart.”
Her voice softened into almost a whisper as tears streamed down her face.
“Being wolfless became a problem. Everyone despised me, talked behind my back, said I wasn’t fit to be queen, that I didn’t deserve to be your mate because I couldn’t bear pups to inherit the throne. Our children would inherit my condition, and everyone blamed me for the suffering it might cause you. You fought so hard to protect me from their whispers, Darius. And I… I tried my best not to let you see the pain, because I knew how much you were already carrying. Elders complaining every day that I should be stripped of my position, yet you were always against it. You fought for me.”
Her lips curled into a sad, trembling smile, her hands clenching into fists as her voice broke into a whisper.
“But at the end of the day… we were torn apart by your brother. I died by his hands while you went rogue, taking the lives of so many, and were cursed to live all these years alone, searching for a way to end your own life.”
She held my gaze, chest heaving as sobs wracked her body. Slowly, she walked around the desk toward me, and before I could react, her trembling hands shoved me hard. Her voice quivered as she whispered,
“And as cruel as fate is, I seem to be the reason you might die… the reason you might break the curse and finally find the peace you’ve been seeking. But I won’t allow that to happen.”
She hissed through her tears, pushing me again, harder.
“I won’t allow you to leave me again. I won’t! I know I’m selfish. I know this is greedy, Darius, but please….. don’t leave me. Don’t do anything to yourself. I am here, I am Liana.”
Her voice grew louder, tears streaming down her cheeks as desperation laced every
word.
“I am really Liana… so please, believe me. Please…”
In that moment, I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. And then, suddenly, something hit me, something that made my entire body go rigid.
As though a veil had been lifted, I caught it–the scent I had loved and cherished, the one I had longed to smell again, the one that had always comforted me.
Liana’s scent.
“What…”
She opened her mouth to speak, “Darius, I-” but I cut her off.
“It’s really you,” I whispered, breathless. Before she could react, I reached out, pulling her into my arms, holding her tight as if I’d never let go. “It’s really you, Liana.”
