The fire should've left Lucien cold.
But it hadn't.
Not after Kael touched him.
Not after the flames obeyed.
Now, hours later, the palace had gone quiet — that deceptive kind of quiet before storms. Lucien lay awake in his darkened chamber, half-naked, bandages around his wrists, hair unbound over the pillow like silk left untamed.
The sigil on his chest pulsed slowly, not in pain, but in something… deeper.
Hunger.
There was a knock at the door.
He didn't answer.
Didn't need to.
Because he already knew who it was.
The door creaked open. Heavy boots. Armor half removed.
Kael.
Lucien didn't move, just stared at the ceiling.
"You shouldn't be here."
Kael didn't speak. He closed the door. Locked it.
Then:
"I had a dream," he said quietly.
Lucien's eyes flicked to him.
Kael stepped forward, voice tight.
"You were dying. Again. Like in the flames. But I couldn't save you. I… woke up choking."
Lucien sat up slowly. "You came here for comfort?"
"No," Kael said. "I came because if I don't… I'll go mad."
Lucien stood, his robe falling from his shoulders, bare chest glowing faintly in the low candlelight.
"Then come and lose yourself."
Kael crossed the room in three strides.
Their mouths crashed together.
No hesitation. No restraint.
Kael kissed like a drowning man, all tension and control finally snapping. His hands gripped Lucien's waist, then his back, then tangled in his hair. Lucien pulled him closer, teeth grazing Kael's bottom lip.
The cursed sigil glowed where their chests touched — but didn't burn.
It thrummed.
Welcoming.
Lucien gasped. "It doesn't hurt."
Kael pressed him to the wall, voice ragged. "Because this… might be real."
Robes fell.
Armor dropped.
Skin met skin.
It wasn't soft.
It was desperate.
Like years of silence and shame, grief and longing, exploded into heat.
Kael laid Lucien on the bed like something sacred and sinful all at once.
Lucien arched into him, breath catching. "Tell me you want this."
Kael's voice broke. "I never stopped."
They didn't speak after that — just movement, and moans, and the sounds of two souls unraveling.
And for the first time since Lucien woke in this cursed body…
He felt alive.
---
Meanwhile, deep in the royal library, Elias ran shaking fingers over a sealed scroll—one forbidden even to High Priests.
Its prophecy read:
"When the soul from another realm awakens inside royal blood, only love given freely will tame its curse. But if two hearts bind to it, and no choice is made… the kingdom will fall in fire."
Elias stared at it.
And whispered:
"He's the key. And we're both the lock."
---
Back in Lucien's chamber, Kael traced his fingers over Lucien's bare back.
No words.
Only quiet.
Only skin.
Only the scent of ash and velvet.
Lucien whispered, half-asleep:
"Don't leave me again."
Kael didn't answer.
But he stayed.