The Divorced Military Queen Awakens (by Sadie Baxter) novel Chapter 686

Chapter 686 Shards Of Forgotten Love

Chapter 686 Shards Of Forgotten Love

According to Rowan, Julius had looked like an empty shell back then.

Alive, yes,

but moving with the vacancy of the dead.

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His journey to Celosia felt less like charity and more like the fulfillment of a final wish.

After she had washed and changed, Rowan greeted her outside the room. “Soon after he got back to Azania,” he told her, “Julius attempted to take his own life. It was a near miss.”

Those words slammed into her; shock widened her eyes before she could hide it.

“What–he tried to kill himself?”

“Yes. Fortunately, he failed. Afterward, he underwent hypnosis therapy. Honestly, I supported it. Without it, he would never have survived this long.”

He tried to do that?

Quinn’s gaze drifted to Julius‘ left wrist. A watch lay over the skin, but beneath the metal band she thought she saw the faint ridge of a scar.

Rowan had said Julius slit his wrists that night; only swift rescue had stolen him back from death.

Julius‘ voice pulled her from the memory. “I’d like to know,” he said quietly, “just what it is about you that I loved.”

Quinn lifted her eyes, holding his gaze. “Then spend time with me,” she suggested, calm and clear. “Maybe, in the days ahead, you’ll discover exactly why.”

He glanced at her with lazy indifference. “I never thought I could love anyone. If, after a while, I find the present you holds no attraction for me–what then?”

“You’re not going to undo the hypnosis?”

Julius let out a low chuckle. “Lift the hypnosis? Perhaps. I only agreed to it because losing you was killing me. Now that you stand alive before me, it makes sense to undo it—but…”

His voice trailed off, expression cooling to winter stone.

“Removing it entails risk–memory could splinter, even spiral into madness, however small the odds.”

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Chapter 686 Shards Of Forgotten Love

“And the second reason?” she prompted, sensing there was more.

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“I have no intention of placing my life in any woman’s hands. If the hypnosis is lifted, I might love you again–desperately, destructively. Would that give you dominion over my life and future?”

Quinn felt her heart creeping toward the floor.

Seeing him like this again–untouched by warmth, armored in polite distance–catapulted her straight to the day they first met. In that memory, as in this room, it felt as if nothing in this world could reach him, much less matter to him.

“So you have no intention of undoing the hypnosis?” she asked, voice soft yet unmistakably steady.

“If you cannot make me fall in love with you again, then, no, I have no reason to undo it. Still, we do share a child. Your title as Mrs. Whitethorn can remain. Every thread, every meal, every comfort—the Whitethorn family will shoulder them all.”

Grief stung her eyes as she stared at him, discovering how cruel it felt when.the man she loved addressed her with a stranger’s eyes and winter in his voice.

“Julius, if you truly cannot love me, then I will not cling to the title of Mrs. Whitethorn. We can raise Dawn together. Even if we divorce, we will still be Dawn’s father and mother—always.”

“Enough. Not another word!” Julius barked.

The chill in his voice shattered, replaced by a crackling storm of impatience.

He lurched to his feet, closing the distance until he loomed over her wheelchair, palms braced on the handles.

“Listen well,” he said, his dark eyes drilling into hers. “In the Whitethorn family, there is no divorce. Only death do we part. Do not utter that word to me again.”

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