KAELITH
I told myself I would leave her alone.
After all, she had no real place in this palace. She was human, or at least she wore her humanity like a second skin. She didn't belong here. Not among us. Not near me.
But I keep finding myself watching her.
Even when I should be listening to council. Even when bloodlines, borders, and broken alliances are laid out before me like chess pieces, it is her face that slips in between thoughts. Her voice, soft and controlled, keeps replaying in my mind.
If you're going to follow me, you should at least try to keep up.
She knew.
She knew I had sent someone to trail her. She didn't run. She played along. She wanted it.
My control fractures again.
I could burn this entire court to ash and still not feel satisfied. But her? She makes me feel something I thought I buried long ago. Not desire. Not need. Something darker. Something dangerous. She wants me to lose control. And the worst part is… I want to lose it, but only for her.
I rise from my throne without speaking. My guards shift but do not follow. They know better than to ask questions when I move like this. The scent of the girl still lingers in the air. That sweet, almost sickening innocence. Fake. Addictive. I breathe it in like poison I never meant to survive.
I find her alone again.
The same garden. The same moonlight painting her skin silver. Her back is to me, her hands folded in front of her like she's praying. She's not. There is nothing holy in her. I would know. I've hunted angels. Broken them in silence.
She hears me.
But she doesn't turn.
"You came back," she says softly.
I step closer. "You never left."
She looks over her shoulder, just enough for me to see her mouth curve.
"Neither did you."
I hate the way she says it. Like she knows how deep she's sunk her claws into me. Like she's already claimed something that doesn't belong to her.
I circle her slowly. I want to see her eyes. Her real ones. Not the ones she shows everyone else.
"You wear your disguise well," I murmur. "You almost convinced me."
"Almost?"
"You blinked too slow. And when I told you to run, you didn't."
She turns fully now, lifting her chin like I'm not the most dangerous thing she's ever seen.
"You told me to run," she says. "But you didn't tell me why."
I stare at her. Long enough for the air between us to shift. Long enough for the garden to feel like it's holding its breath.
"Because I don't stop once I start," I say.
She steps closer. Not afraid. Not cautious. Her heartbeat flutters, but not from fear.
"Maybe that's what I want."
The words slice clean through me.
I should have killed her the moment I sensed her.
I should have ended this when it was still a whisper.
But now she's here. She's fire and sweetness and secrets wrapped in the shape of a girl.
And I'm already burning.