Page 4 of Crown of Ashes and Desire

"I won't marry you!" I said, rage clear in my voice, trying to wrench away, but I knew all my efforts were in vain.

“Don’t forget you were always going to be mine, now… Alper, make it official,” he said to the priest.

His voice was so gentle and yet commanding, sending a shiver down my spine.

The priest, trembling and pale, began the binding rites. Each word felt like a death sentence while Hakan's magic wrapped around us both, suffocating and seductive. I barely registered the exchange of our vows. My heart pounded wildly when I said, "I do," not even knowing why or how. His hand clutched my arm tightly as our energies bound in unwanted harmony. Then his bloody hand seized my chin, smearing Deniz's blood across my skin when he smiled at me.

“Do you remember that night on the rooftop when I vowed that if another man ever touched you, I would rip his heart out and make you watch it beat its last? I always keep my promises, Ada.” His voice dropped to a deadly whisper, each word dripping with possessive fury and dark satisfaction.

Then his mouth crashed into mine, tasting of darkness, copper, and sin. His kiss was punishment and possession, a reminder of everything I’d spent five years trying to forget. My mind screamed to resist, but my treacherous body remembered—remembered him, remembered us, remembered everything.

The last thing I felt before consciousness slipped away was his satisfied smile against my lips, and he whispered the words.

“Welcome home, my wife.”

Hakan

Seven days before I claimed what was mine, I prowled through the crowded streets of Gölgekent, the ancient light city where the veils between worlds grew thin. Darkness clung to my skin with familiar comfort while I moved through the maze of obsidian spires and moonlit bazaars. The weight ofshadow magic pressed down on me, far heavier than the light magic I'd experienced during my years of exile in the Celestial Plains. Five years had passed since I'd deliberately driven Ada away. Nine months after that separation, when the regret became unbearable, and I began questioning his commands, my father ripped the memories from my mind without my consent. For two years after that, I'd known nothing of her—the spell ensuring my loyalty by erasing what she'd meant to me.

While I walked, a memory surfaced—Erlik's cold hand on my shoulder, his voice sharp and metallic: "Your weakness for the light-bearer ends today, my son." His shadows had invaded my mind, suffocating me in darkness while he systematically excised every memory of Ada. "Power demands sacrifice," he'd told me as I fell to my knees, "and you've chosen power over love."

I told myself that power was all that mattered—that Ada was merely a means to an end. Yet even after driving her away and having my father's spell suppress my memories of why, something inside me had rebelled at the thought of her marrying another. Was I claiming her for power, or was power merely the excuse I gave myself?

The darkness in my veins coiled and writhed when I contemplated how quickly Ada's uncle would bend to my will. Men like him always broke in the end.

Kara Cehennem—the Dark Underworld—had been my father, Erlik’s, domain for millennia. As the Demon of Ashes and Shadows, he ruled with cruelty and calculation, traits he’d expected me to inherit. This marriage was my path to claiming my birthright, to proving I was worthy of succeeding him.

I wondered if the Ercel family still harbored their contempt for Ada. Something twisted in my chest at the thought of her name. Five years, and still the memory of her light haunted me. I pushed the feeling down, burying it beneath layers of shadowand ambition. There was no room for sentiment in my actions that were about to be unfurled. Their disdain for her had always been clear—the daughter of Gün Ata, the God of Light and Love, who dared to fall for the darkness. Since her father’s passing, her uncle had taken responsibility for her, though his care often felt more like control.

“You know,” Sarp’s lazy drawl came from behind me, “there are easier ways to win back the love of your life than storming her uncle’s fortress.” "My oldest friend lounged against a shadow-wreathed pillar. He appeared entirely too comfortable in a place that should have him on edge."

“No one asked for your opinion, and she is no longer the love of my life, barely a thing that I require.” I muttered, though his presence steadied me as it always had.

“A thing? You’re a lost cause, Hakan,” he muttered.

But I ignored him.

When I approached the ancient gates of her uncle’s manor near the edge of Gölgekent’s Twilight District, shadowy flames danced along the walls. I pushed through the writhing shadows that guarded the entrance. Here, in this ancient city that straddled the boundary between light and darkness, different rules applied.

A servant materialized to greet me, its initial blank expression morphing into recognition. I let my power flare, revealing my true nature, and the servant recoiled in fear. My reputation as the Gölge Bey preceded me—a consequence of Erlik’s cruel legacy and the darkness I had embraced willingly. I had changed over time, growing power hungry, because I finally realized that I could claim what was rightfully mine.

“Inform Lord Ercel that the Shadow Prince has returned,” I commanded, my voice resonating with power as I strode past without waiting for acknowledgement.

Moving through corridors of enchanted stone, her essence suddenly struck me—a memory of pure light that had somehow lingered here. Ada had been here recently, and I could still sense her light magic because it stabbed me in the chest the moment I entered.

“Don’t even fucking go there, Hakan. She’s pure, and you’re still the real bastard,” Sarp warned, suddenly beside me. “You know what starts happening if you let these thoughts linger for far too long.”

“You are not welcome here.”

Her uncle’s voice cut through my thoughts before I could respond. Levent had changed little, though the silver streaks in his dark hair were more pronounced. I stood in his domain again after so many years, an unexpected supplicant.

"We need to talk," I stated, claiming an ornate chair opposite him. I deliberately chose his most valuable seat, the one with gold inlay that had been Gün Ata's favorite.

“Your manor remains unchanged. Still clinging to the old ways, I see.”

Ada’s uncle stared at me in silence, his frown deepening. His fingers twitched on the armrest, a tell that betrayed his nervousness despite his attempt at composure. Even with his position in the Isik Sarayi, he knew I wielded power that could obliterate him.

“You didn’t traverse the Shadow Roads merely to critique my decorating choices, did you?” he retorted coldly.

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