Rose
The chamber door slammed shut behind Adrian, and silence rushed in like a blade at my throat.
I stood rooted in the center of my quarters, my chest heaving, my hand still twitching from the weight of the gun I'd nearly fired into his smug face.
And then my eyes snapped to him.
Asher.
He stood near the door, one hand still at his side as if my fury was something he could hold down with nothing but his presence. His gaze was steady, dark, unshaken, and it made my blood boil hotter than Adrian's taunts ever could.
"You," I hissed, voice dripping venom. "You stopped me."
He didn't answer. He only watched me like a man who'd already peeled back my skin and studied every vein, every weakness.
I took a step closer, fists clenched. "Why?" My voice rose, cracking against the silence. "Why do you keep interfering? Why do you touch me like…." My throat closed around the words. Like you own me.
His eyes flickered, something dangerous glinting there, and his lips curved not into a smile, but something darker. A claim.
"I told you," he murmured, voice low enough to crawl across my skin. "We are bound in fire and chaos."
The echo of his kiss still whispered in my mind and burned in my mouth. The taste of him lingered, raw and furious, and it infuriated me that my body remembered what my mind wanted to forget.
I shoved him, hard, palms flat against his chest. "You don't get to do that! You don't get to put your hands on me, to " i hated this. I can't afford to lose control, i can't give in.
"To what?" His voice cut like a blade. He didn't move back; he let me push, let me waste my fury against the immovable wall of him. Then he leaned closer, so close I could feel his breath against my ear. "To remind you of what you already know?"
My heart lurched. Heat, sharp and merciless, raced through me. I hated that he could do this. I hated that the fire he spoke of was not just his it was mine, clawing at my insides, daring me to admit it.
"I don't know what game you're playing, Detective," I spat, forcing steel into my tone. "But you're not in control of me. Not now. Not ever."
For the first time, his gaze softened not with kindness, but with something worse. A emotion I never wanted to see. A knowing that dug beneath my skin.
"You'll understand when it burns, Rose," he whispered. "Fire always tells the truth."
I wanted to scream. To strike him. To drag my blade across that infuriating calm face until it cracked like porcelain. Instead, I stood frozen, shaking, because a part of me feared the truth in his words.
And because the burn of his kiss still held me hostage, caged and grounded.
Before I could answer, before I could shove the cryptic madness back down his throat, the door burst open.
Cassian entered first, his eyes sharp, scanning the room like he could smell the storm that still lingered between us. Mica and Nyla followed, their steps heavy with unease.
Cassian's voice was steady, though I caught the flicker of suspicion when his gaze shifted between me and Asher. "The council's split," he reported. "Serpents and their dogs are screaming Adrian's name. A handful of minor families have pledged to him too. The rest are...." Cassian paused and hesitated
"They are what Cassian?"
"...undecided." he finished
Undecided. The word tasted like poison.
I straightened my back, smoothed the fury from my face, and let Chaos slip back over me like armor. Whatever fire Asher had lit in me I buried it beneath ice.
"Then they'll have to be reminded," I said coldly, "that Chaos doesn't share power. They can whisper Adrian's name until their tongues bleed, but I will not yield."
Cassian studied me for a beat too long, but he said nothing. He only gave a short nod, as if he believed me, or at least respected the mask I wore.
Asher remained silent in the corner, shadows clinging to him like old friends. But I felt him. His presence was a chain around my ribs, tightening with every breath.
I turned my back to him. To all of it. "Enough delays," I snapped. "The break is over. Let them stew in their division. Let them choke on it. And when we return " I drew in a breath, sharp as a blade "I'll remind them why they fear me."
Cassian inclined his head. "As you command."
We moved together through the stone corridors, boots echoing against the floor like a war drum. Mica and Nyla flanked me, Cassian at my side. And still I could feel him.
Asher, silent behind us, his gaze heavy on the back of my neck.
I hated that it steadied me.
The council chamber loomed ahead, its obsidian doors thrown wide, its air already thick with the stench of vipers and serpents and cowards pretending to be kings.
The moment I stepped inside, the room fell silent. Dozens of eyes tracked me, weighed me, searched me for cracks. I gave them none.
I was Chaos. I was my father's daughter. I was every drop of blood that had been spilled in my name.
But inside beneath the steel and ice I still burned. Burned from Asher's kiss. Burned from his riddles. Burned from the knowledge that something was coming, and I couldn't stop it.
Adrian's gaze followed me as I took my seat. Too sharp, too knowing. His lips twitched into that smug smirk, but his eyes… his eyes searched for something he didn't find.
Good. Let him search.
Shadowhand rose, his mask gleaming. "Shall we continue?"
I leaned back in my chair, my smile sharp as glass. "By all means."
The game resumed.
But in the back of my mind, Asher's words coiled like smoke, refusing to leave me.
You'll understand when it burns.