Arion's body was a battlefield, but the war was no longer an external one. The tremors that had wracked him now subsided, replaced by a cold, unsettling stillness. Kyon's words, a soft and dangerous poison, had slipped past his defenses. The prince's hand was still on his face, the touch not a caress but a claim. Arion finally found his voice, a raw, unsteady whisper.
"What is this?" he asked, his gaze locked on Kyon's. "What have you done to me?"
Kyon's lips curved into a small, sad smile. "What I was destined to do. I have claimed what is mine."
The words struck Arion like a physical blow. He scrambled back, away from Kyon's touch, away from the suffocating truth of it all. "I am not yours. I am a man, not some prize to be won or marked."
Kyon's expression hardened, the fragile mask of vulnerability shattering. The air in the room grew heavy, thick with the scent of burning amber. "You are more than a man. You are the other half of my soul. I've known it since the moment I saw you."
Arion shook his head, a desperate, frantic motion. "This is madness. You forced me, Kyon. You drugged me. You did this while I was helpless."
The prince rose, his movements as fluid and predatory as a stalking beast. "I gave you what we both needed. You were too stubborn to accept it on your own." He stepped closer, and Arion flinched back against the headboard. "Do you truly not feel it? The pull? The undeniable connection? When you are close, the beast in me finally rests. And when you are away, it cries out for you."
Arion felt a phantom tug on his belly, a sharp ache that throbbed with a life of its own. He closed his eyes, fighting the insidious pleasure that promised to consume him. "It's not a connection," he snarled, the words a bitter taste in his mouth. "It's a cage. And you are the jailer."
Kyon leaned over him, his face inches from Arion's. "Call it what you will. The truth remains. We are bound. The mark is proof. It will be a constant reminder of our shared destiny." His voice dropped to a low, intimate growl. "You will learn to love it. You will learn to love me. Because there is no other path for you. You will be a prince by my side, or you will be my prisoner. The choice is yours."
"I really thought you were on my side that we understand each other's!"
"Sorry Arion but that was all just a facade to have you under control" kyon smirk .
Arion's eyes flew open. He stared at the face of the man who had been his companion, his prince, his tormentor. The beast and the beautiful lie, now one and the same. The fragile façade had not just unraveled—it had been torn to shreds, and in its place was a terrible, unavoidable truth. Arion was no longer a man who had fallen in battle; he was a man who had been taken, and the war for his soul had just begun.