KING OF RUIN-Chapter 46: A goddess and her child

Davina stood tall beneath the silver glow of her chamber's celestial lights, her white robes shimmering like starlight over calm water.

"Come in," she said softly.

The door creaked open. Lisa stepped inside.

Her legs moved on instinct, but her mind was far behind. The revelation still spun in her head, burning in her chest like a wound that wouldn't close.

"You called for me?" Lisa asked, her voice hollow.

Davina didn't answer right away. She simply stood, radiant and distant, like a portrait of a goddess carved from the sky itself. And yet, behind the light... Lisa saw it now.

Not divinity.

Not duty.

Just her mother.

The room was quiet, as if the world itself waited.

Then Davina spoke—not as a deity, but as something older. Something more painful.

"I named you Lisa, not because it was a holy name, but because it was my daughter's name. The one I lost before the stars even learned to shine."

Lisa froze.

"You weren't chosen," Davina said. "You were born. Not as an agent of the Council. Not as a weapon to wield. But as my child."

Lisa's eyes burned with tears. The memories were faint now, soft as broken dreams. A lullaby that had no source. A warmth that once wrapped her in peace when she was young—before the pain, before Kol, before destiny took root in her bones.

"You let me forget that," Lisa said quietly. "You let them train me. Use me."

Davina looked away, her voice barely holding steady. "Because I was weak. Because I let duty come before family."

Lisa's lip trembled. "You were supposed to be my mother."

"I still am."

"No," Lisa snapped, stepping back. "You're their leader. The High Seraph. The one who sent me down to spy on him. To lie. To watch. To betray the only person who ever truly saw me."

Davina's glow faltered.

For a heartbeat, she wasn't a goddess. She was just a woman who had failed.

"I thought I could keep you safe," she whispered. "I thought if you stayed close to him, you would have ended him and saved him from fate.

"But I remembered," Lisa said. "Not as a soldier. Not as a goddess. I remembered you—as my mother."

Her voice cracked. "And you still used me."

Silence fell.

Davina didn't flinch. She stood tall, her eyes filled with both divine sorrow and mortal guilt.

"I sent you into the fire," she said. "But you became light. That was never the plan. But it was always fate."

Lisa looked away. "Then what do you want from me now?"

Davina walked forward—graceful, still divine. But her voice was raw.

"Kol is beyond the veil now. His strength grows. His defiance spreads. He has defied the gods, and he would slain them if he gets the chance. You know what he's capable of."

"I also know who he is," Lisa said. "He didn't rise to power because he wanted it. He was manipulated."

Davina's tone sharpened. "And that is his destiny." " We had no duty to save him."

"And I died for it," Lisa spat. "I loved him, and you let me burn."

"You abandoned your calling," Davina said coldly. "You told him to defy the prophecy. To love instead of conquer."

Lisa's eyes burned with golden fire. "Because I believed he could."

Davina's voice softened, but her authority remained. "And now? After all he's done? Can you still believe that?"

Lisa hesitated. Her heart ached with all the weight of memory. Of kisses under crimson moons. Of promises made in whispered breath. Of blood spilled. Of the night she died in his arms.

"I don't know," she whispered.

Davina came closer, lifting her daughter's chin with fingers that shimmered like stardust. "Then find out." ƒrēenovelkiss.com

Lisa blinked.

"Bring him back, or end him. Either way—make your choice. Not for me. Not for the Council. But for the fate of every soul that still breathes."

Lisa stepped back, trembling.

A choice.

Between a mother she had forgotten...

And the man who held her soul like it was the last thing in the world worth saving.

She nodded slowly, her voice breaking.

Davina turned away,

" But first I need something from you. "

Lisa clenched her fists.