"Helios!"

Circe’s voice rang through the room sharply, cutting through the sound of Helios’ uneven breathing.

Helios slowly looked up from where he stood surrounded by shattered glass, his bloodied hand trembling faintly at his side.

Sweat clung to his face, his hair disheveled, his chest still rising too fast.

"Mother..."

Relief hit him almost instantly.

A horrible, desperate kind of relief.

Because no matter what changed around him, no matter how badly things spiraled—

This hadn’t changed.

His mother was still here.

"When I was told you needed me, I thought you just missed your mother, but oh...my baby..." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Circe hurried toward him immediately, the sharp clicking of her heels against the floor echoing through the ruined chamber before she dropped gracefully to her knees in front of him without hesitation, uncaring of the shattered glass around them.

Then she pulled him into her arms.

It was familiar.

It was still warm.

And Helios still felt safe.

The embrace Helios had known since childhood.

The embrace of the one person who always chose him.

Protected him.

Loved him.

His mother was exactly what he needed right now.

The second her arms wrapped around him, something inside Helios cracked even further.

"What happened, my little king?" Circe asks softly, one hand immediately moving into his hair, brushing through it gently the same way she used to whenever he was younger and upset.

It worked instantly.

It always did.

"Everything’s slipping..." Helios whispers weakly against her shoulder.

And suddenly, despite being a grown man, despite being the crown prince feared and adored by the kingdom—

He felt like a child again.

Small.

Weak.

Needing his mother’s guidance.

"Slipping?" Circe repeats softly, her voice calm as she slowly rocks him in her arms. "What could possibly be slipping away from my precious son?"

"Ezra..."

Just saying the name hurt.

"He’s slipping away from me."

His voice cracked badly on the last few words.

Broken.

Just like the mirror scattered across the floor behind him.

Circe didn’t answer immediately.

She simply kept rocking him gently, her fingers still moving against the back of his head patiently, soothingly.

"Slipping away?" she whispers after a moment, sounding almost confused by the idea itself. "How could he slip away? He adores you."

Her hand slid through his hair again slowly.

"Why do you feel that way, turtle dove?"

Helios shut his eyes tightly.

"He hasn’t been the same since returning," he whispers shakily. "He hasn’t been listening...he’s been doubting me...I waited so long...and now...now he..."

The words wouldn’t come out.

He physically couldn’t say it.

Because even thinking it made him feel sick.

Like a failure.

Especially since—

"He what?"

Circe’s hand suddenly stopped moving.

The softness in her voice didn’t disappear.

But something underneath it sharpened slightly.

Helios swallowed hard.

"He found out I lied to him..."

Even saying it aloud made shame twist uncomfortably in his chest.

"That Kaelis...that bastard was the one who gave him the bread while I was at Celestial Rays."

His breathing became uneven again.

"He’s mad at me...he didn’t even want to..."

Helios froze.

Because suddenly—

He saw it again.

Ezra turning away from him.

That cold expression.

That rejection.

Helios immediately squeezed his eyes shut harder, trying desperately to force the image away before it swallowed him whole again.

’No...not again...’

He couldn’t think about that.

Couldn’t see it again.

Not Ezra turning away from him.

Never that.

"What do I do?" Helios asks finally, his voice sounding smaller than he intended as he looked up at his mother.

For the first time in a very long time—

Helios De Luxaelian Sunthyr genuinely looked afraid.

So, he waited.

Waited for his mother to answer him.

Waited for her to tell him what to do next, the way she always did whenever he felt cornered, whenever things stopped going according to plan.

Because Circe was always his answer.

His guidance.

Everything Helios was...was because of his mother.

The prince people adored.

The prince people saw as perfect.

The prince who learned how to smile while hiding knives behind his back.

That was because of her.

His mother made him into who he was.

So Helios waited for comfort.

For reassurance.

For her to tell him Ezra would come back to him eventually.

But to his surprise—

Circe pulled away from him.

And when she did—

SLAP.

The sound echoed sharply across the ruined room.

Helios’ head snapped to the side from the force of it, pain spreading across his cheek almost instantly as his eyes widened in shock.

"M-Momm—"

He tried to speak, but Circe cut him off before he could even gather himself.

"Have I taught you nothing?"

Her voice wasn’t loud.

But it was cold enough to make Helios freeze.

He slowly looked back at her, one hand instinctively moving toward his cheek.

He looked genuinely confused.

Actually confused.

Because his mother had always comforted him.

Always reassured him.

And now she was looking at him with disappointment instead.

"You are the only legitimate son of the king," Circe says sharply, standing back up as she looked down at him. "The future ruler of this kingdom. So why are you crying?"

Helios stared at her silently.

"If you love Ezra as much as you say you do," Circe continues, her heels clicking softly against the shattered glass as she paced slowly in front of him, "then why are you acting like a helpless child instead of acting like a king?"

Helios swallowed hard.

"But I—"

"You should be cold."

Circe immediately cuts him off.

"Calculating, and smart."

Her gaze narrowed further.

"You should not waste your time crying if you already know Ezra is slipping away from you."

The words hit harder than the slap.

Because Helios knew she was right.

And somehow, that made him feel even worse.

’I look pathetic. Mother is right.’ Helios thought bitterly, his fingers twitching slightly against his side. ’Why am I acting like this?’

"You think I enacted my vengeance against your father all these years by just crying?" Circe asks, almost mockingly now. "You think I survived this palace by acting weak?"

Helios lowered his gaze slightly.

"No."

Circe crossed her arms.

"You adapt."

Her tone softened slightly after that, but not enough to become comforting again.

"You control the situation before it controls you."

Helios’ chest tightened.

"But I’m lost," Helios admits finally, the words sounding humiliating coming out of his mouth. "I don’t know what to do anymore."

That was the truth.

Everything he held onto before suddenly felt unstable.

"All I held onto..." Helios whispers shakily, "...was the fact that Ezra saw me as his savior. As someone who owed his life to me."

His breathing became uneven again, the words sounding smaller the moment they left his mouth, like even he knew how fragile that sounded now.

"That was enough before."

Circe watched him carefully for a moment.

Really watched him.

Not with pity.

Not with softness.

With calculation.

Then she sighed softly, almost like she was disappointed that he still needed to be told something so obvious.

"Then use other means."

Helios frowned slightly, his brows pulling together as he looked up at her.

"What other means?"

For the first time that night—

Circe smiled.

Not warmly.

Not kindly.

It was the kind of smile Helios had seen before whenever his mother was about to ruin someone, the kind that never reached her eyes, the kind that meant she had already decided what should be done long before anyone else caught up.

Dangerous.

"You said it yourself," Circe whispers softly as she crouches in front of him again, gently holding his face despite the redness on his cheek. "Ezra has changed, and I know now why. That little lookalike of his."

Her nails brushed lightly against his skin, not enough to hurt, but enough to make Helios go still.

"Lior," Helios answers quietly. "You met him?"

"I was there when your father invited him and that bastard for tea," Circe says, narrowing her eyes, her expression tightening with clear distaste. "It’s his son, whether or not he denies it, I can see that it is."

"Yes." Helios breathes out, looking down again, the admission heavy in his mouth. "It’s his son."

Circe tilted her head slightly.

"What have you done with that?"

Helios hesitated.

Then answered anyway.

"I’ve tried saving him...the child..."

"Saving him? The same tactic you used with Ezra?" Circe lets out a soft laugh, the sound almost mocking in how effortless it was. "Oh, my son, you used to be smarter than that. At this point, you should think bigger."

Helios stared at her, confused, thrown off by the certainty in her tone.

What more could he do?

What else was there?

"That boy..." Circe says slowly, her gaze sharpening as she studied his face. "He was supposed to be yours, right?"

Helios froze.

The words struck deeper than he expected.

Because it was true.

And because hearing it out loud made it impossible to ignore.

The reminder of his biggest failure.

A miscalculation.

One mistake.

Just one.

But it was enough to ruin everything.