"I'm not afraid of you," I told him, though the lie tasted like smoke on my tongue.
He lifted his eyes slowly, the golden heat in them flashing for a second before fading to something sharp and unreadable. The flash of amusement that crossed his face was darker than the night outside.
"You should be," he said quietly.
"I'm not," I answered again, pushing my voice to stay steady. "I don't fear men who hide behind power."
"Power hides nothing," he whispered. "It only shows what others refuse to see."
I swallowed the words that wanted to rise. He sat across from me at the long dining table, his face calm, his every move thoughtful. There was grace in his control, danger in his stillness.
The silence stretched until it felt like a string closing between us.
Finally, he broke it. "You disobeyed my order this morning."
"I walked in the gardens," I said. "That isn't a crime."
"You stepped past the barrier."
I froze. "How did you"
He leaned forward slightly, voice low and smooth. "I feel everything you do. Every step. Every movement. Every beating that falters when you think of running."
My throat went dry. "Then you already know I hate being watched."
He smiled weakly, but it wasn't kind. "Hatred is easy. Control is not."
Something in his tone unsettled me. It wasn't just a warning. It was… confession.
I met his eyes. "You don't control me."
"No," he said softly, "but I control what happens to you."
I clenched my hands under the table. The mark over my heart pulsed once, faintly warm. "Maybe I'll take that risk."
"You think defiance makes you strong?" His voice hardened. "It makes you foolish. The last one who defied me"
"Burned," I interrupted angrily. "Yes, I've seen it."
His eyes darkened, and for a moment I saw pain flash behind his mask. "Then don't repeat her mistake."
I pushed my chair back, standing. "I'm not her."
"You are," he said simply. "You just don't know it yet."
Dinner ended in silence, but the words remained long after he left the hall. I sat there for a while, looking at the untouched food. My heart wouldn't stop beating.
Who was she? The woman from the visions? The first bride? The one who died in his arms?
I didn't want to believe I was anything like her. But his eyes, the way he looked at me, the way my mark replied to him, it was as if the past was trying to repeat itself.
I couldn't ignore the voice whispering in my head anymore.
Don't trust him.
Maybe the answers were in the house. And maybe, for once, I was done being afraid.
When the moon rose, I left my room. The hallway was empty. The air felt thicker the closer I got to the east wing, the one he warned me never to enter.
I paused before the door, hearing his earlier words echo in my mind.
"Never go there."
That only made me want to open it more.
I pushed.
The hinges groaned softly. The room beyond was dim and vast, lined with pictures. I stepped inside slowly, eyes widening.
There were dozens, no, hundreds of works. All of Kael.
Each picture showed him in a different age wearing armor, robes, crowns but his face never changed. The same eyes. The same fire beneath his calm.
He hadn't changed. Not once.
My chest tightened. I moved closer to one, stretching up to brush the edge of the frame. His look in that picture was softer, almost human.
"You were mortal once," I whispered. "Weren't you?"
A voice answered behind me. "I did many things at once."
I spun around. Kael stood in the doorway, shadows curling around him like smoke.
"You shouldn't be here," he said.
"Then tell me the truth," I ordered. "How long have you been alive?"
He didn't answer.
"You haven't aged in any of these," I pressed. "Centuries. Decades. You look exactly the same."
His jaw tightened. "Immortality is not a gift, Evelyn. It's a sentence."
"Then why are you still alive?"
"Because I'm not allowed to die."
The quiet in his voice made something inside me stumble.
He took a slow step forward. "The curse binds me to the fire. Every century, a new bride is picked by the mark one who carries the Heart of Flame. One who might end it."
"And none ever did?" I asked softly.
"They all tried," he said. "And they all burned."
My throat ached. "So you keep repeating it. Binding women who never survive you."
His eyes met mine. "Do you think I enjoy it?"
"I think you stopped caring."
Something in him broke. His hand slammed against the wall beside me, the air sizzling with heat. "You know nothing of what I've lost."
"Then show me," I said, shaking but unwilling to back down. "Stop hiding behind this curse. Stop acting like you're a monster when you're just afraid."
He stared at me, fire flashing behind his eyes. "Afraid?"
"Yes," I said quietly. "Afraid that if you let yourself feel anything again, you'll burn the world with it."
His quiet was deafening.
Then, almost too softly, he said, "You think I fear love?"
"Yes."
He was in my room before I even knew I wasn't alone.
The pages trembled in my hands as I read the runes aloud, my voice barely a whisper. The letters glowed dimly, red as embers, as if they were living.
"The Heart of Flame binds what should never be bound…"
My pulse quickened. I could feel the same fire beneath my skin, the same mark that throbbed over my heart.
Then I heard it.
A low voice, sharp enough to cut the air.
"You shouldn't be reading that."
I froze. Slowly, I turned.
Kael stood at the opening. No sound, no footsteps just there, like he had risen from the shadows themselves. His hair fell into his eyes, his jaw tight, the gold in his gaze flashing like wildfire barely controlled.
My lips opened, but words refused to come.
He moved closer, silent, controlled. The runes on the page faded as if even they feared him.
"Give it to me," he said.
"It's just… a book." My voice shook, but I didn't look away. "I found it on the shelf near the east wing."
His face hardened. "You went there again."
"I wanted answers," I said quietly. "You tell me nothing. You expect me to live here, to bear your mark, and not ask why I'm bound to a man who calls himself a curse?"
His jaw clenched. "You don't understand what you're touching."
"Then help me understand!" I snapped. "Because every time I breathe, I feel that fire moving inside me. I hear words that aren't mine. There's a woman's voice in my head, Kael she said not to trust you."
For a moment, his gaze faltered. Just a flicker. But it was enough.
I stepped closer, holding the book against my chest. "Who is she? Why does she sound like me?"
His eyes turned dark. "Put. It. Down."
The air around him thickened. Heat pulsed from his skin like a storm trapped inside flesh. My heart beat against my ribs, but I didn't move.
"No," I said. "Not until you tell me the truth."
He breathed slowly, as if fighting a war inside his own chest. "The Heart of Flame," he muttered, almost to himself. "You shouldn't even know those words."
"Then what are they?"
He took another step toward me. His voice dropped lower, rougher. "They're the end of me, Evelyn. And if you're not careful, they'll be the end of you too."