"You don't deserve him. You never will. Whatever spell you've cast won't last witch." Astrielle spit with venom.
True to her own bitter prophecy, she did exactly what she accused Maris of — storming off to sulk in her chambers.
The feast limped on after that. But the damage was done.
Later, Maris stalked the length of her chamber. She moved in tight restless circles, her footfalls sharp against the uncarpeted stone.
She didn’t know what that had been. What coursed through her veins, only that something inside her had reacted like a flame catching dry kindling. She hadn’t cast a spell. She hadn’t called upon anything.
It had just happened it consumed her. And still —she regretted nothing except leaving Astrielle unmaimed.
Chapter thirteen
Hunger and Restraint
-Kael-
The hall was still echoing with whispers when Kael vanished. Like smoke curling through a crack in the stone. Now he stood alone on the highest parapet of Calyrix. The wind tore at his cloak. Far below, the sea-black pines of Nythra whispered ancient secrets, and somewhere beyond them, the mountains brooded under a sky that had forgotten how to forgive.
Kael gripped the edge of the stone, fingers curled white. He knew he shouldn't want Maris like this, shouldn't need her. But he did.
He was a Nightbound King. The last heir of the Nythran throne. Half-immortal, predator-born, sworn to no heart but power itself.
And yet…
The image of Maris, flushed with fury, that sliver of raw magic humming off her skin, it played again and again behind his eyes like a forbidden melody. Her words had been simple. But the claim in them… Gods. He nearly laughed, but the sound died in his throat. It had taken all his control not to carry her to his chambers after. Not to pull her close with the court watching and ask,What else are you hiding, little mortal? What else burns in you, justbeneath the skin?
Instead, he had walked away. He always walked away.
But now… with a twist of shadows he found himself outside her chambers, shadow-wreathed and silent, a wraith of his own making.
He didn’t knock. His hand hovered, clenched, dropped. He paced the corridor like a caged wolf.
What would I even say? He questioned.
“You handled my general’s daughter like a war queen. You ignited magic in front of the entire court. I wanted to devour you where you stood?”
He ground his teeth, head tipping back until it hit the cold stone wall behind him.
She was changing. Faster than he could anticipate. And his people, his court, they were watching. Some in awe. Some in fear. Some, like Astrielle, with blood in their teeth.
If Maris wasn’t protected — if he let his guard drop for a moment too long.
I’ll rip the hearts from everyone in this castle.He thought, but that was too easy. Too tempting.
It wasn’t just possession burning in him anymore. It was something else. Something more dangerous.
Care.
And if he gave into it—
Would she forgive him for everything he’d already done? Would she forgive what he might still do?
Kael exhaled, low and sharp.
The torchlight flickered down the corridor, casting long shadows.
Her door was only ten paces away. So close.
