~Hazel's POV~
"I reject you."
That's all I heard. That's all I felt.
Cayden's words struck my chest like a whip. Cold. Final. Cruel. He stared at me like I was filth smeared across his boots like I was something he wanted to scrape off. That one sentence ricocheted in my head repeatedly, each time cutting deeper.
And then like thunder following lightning, I heard Caspian's voice boom through the hall:
"I accept you."
Gasps. Shocks. Echoes. But none of it mattered because, in the next moment, Caspian knelt beside me. I didn't move. Couldn't. My limbs were frozen, locked in some invisible chain of shame and disbelief. Yet he was so… gentle.
He tucked my hair away from my neck. My breath hitched when his fingers grazed my skin, and then—gods—his warm breath blew across my nape, slow and steady like a prayer. I should've felt fear.
Instead?
My stomach flipped.
My lips trembled as I bit down on them, trying to muffle the gasp threatening to escape me.
Then he bit me.
