Kael hadn't meant to return to the garden
After their last encounter—her voice like silk and her gaze a wildfire—he had sworn to himself he'd stay away. Too many rules were already fraying at the edges of his mind, and he could feel the guard in him slipping, The soldier,The oath-bound man
But there he was, again, pacing the stone path beneath the heavy scent of night-blooming lilies, his thoughts tangled in every word she had said before
"When was the last time someone broke your rules... and you liked it?"
She was poison,That's what he told himself
But even poison could feel like honey when it first touched the tongue
---
She appeared without sound
Liora moved like a dream, barely brushing the gravel as she stepped from behind the temple wall, her bare feet gliding across stone
A faint breeze lifted the edges of her crimson dress, revealing smooth golden thighs and the slow, deliberate sway of her hips
Kael didn't look away
She stood before him not a foot apart but close enough for him to see the faint glow behind her irises—the telltale shimmer of magic, Her smile was slow and knowing
"You came back" she said, voice husky as dusk
"Yes,i came to warn you"
Her dark brows arched "So noble"
"I'm serious, You've stirred enough attention and the Whispering Court has sent for records of all arrivals in the last fortnight"
"And do you intend to turn me in?"
He hesitated
Liora stepped closer, the space between them thinning like a stretched heartbeat
"I think," she whispered, "you don't know what you intend"
Kael's jaw tightened but he didn't step back Instead, his hand moved—of its own will—to brush a loose strand of hair from her cheek,Her skin was warm, too warm for a mortal woman, and her breath smelled faintly of roses and ash
"I've taken oaths" he said, his voice low"To the crown, To the realm"
"Oaths made with ice," she murmured "But what burns beneath them, Kael?"
He swallowed hard, The fire she lit in him was real that It coursed through his veins, a quiet roaring under his skin. A craving he didn't know how to name. He'd always been disciplined—he wore control like a second skin
Until now
Until her
She pressed a hand to his chest with her fingers resting against the leather armor just above his heart
"You're afraid" she whispered
"Of you?" he said, even as his voice betrayed him
"No" She leaned in, her lips brushing his ear"Of how much you want to give in"
He grabbed her wrist, more forcefully than he meant to but she didn't flinch,Her eyes locked onto his, daring him
"If I kiss you" he said darkly, "there'll be no turning back"
"Then kiss me" she said softly "And see what you become"
For a moment, silence took over and lasted for 2mins and kael then pulled her into him, his lips claiming hers like a man starved, She melted into him, her arms sliding around his neck, her body arching to meet his as if she had always belonged there
The kiss was not soft,
It was deep, aching, and filled with something wild—something ancient
A rush of heat tore through Kael's spine, Fire bloomed beneath his skin, flickering along his nerves and power surged in his veins and the stone beneath their feet trembled faintly
Liora moaned softly against his mouth and Kael broke the kiss gasping
"What… what did you do?" he breathed staring at his trembling hands, Sparks danced across his palms—gold and red, like embers awakened
Liora's lips curved, flushed and shining
"I only kissed you" she whispered"It's you who lit the fire"
And the fire, he knew now, would never go out
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