Aurelia let out a long, shaky sigh, forcing her aching body to stay upright. Her fingers curled weakly in the bedsheets as she steadied herself.
Calvus watched her closely, arms folded, shoulders rigid.
"Gaius would be really disappointed."
His voice dropped like a stone.
The words struck her in the chest—sharp, unexpected. Aurelia's breath faltered, but she kept her expression still, swallowing the sting.
"Disappointed…?" she breathed, pushing herself higher against the pillows, though her arms trembled under her own weight. "What are you even talking about? Why are you—"
"I was close to Gaius," Calvus cut in. He stepped forward, boots scraping against the floor. "Closer than you think. So believe me when I say your brother… would be disappointed to see what you've become. To see you grow into nothing."
Aurelia flinched.
"Nothing? Why are you even here?"
Calvus straightened. "Tenebrarum sent me. To watch you. After the poison."
Her stomach tightened painfully.
Tenebrarum…?
Her pulse kicked up.
So he knows I was with Kaelen…?
Oh no—no, no, not that monster—
She pressed a palm to her forehead, eyes squeezing shut.
Calvus's voice softened, but only slightly.
"He said you were a lot of things," he murmured. "Said you were brave."
Aurelia's eyes flicked toward him, confused.
"He… did?"
"Yes." Calvus's jaw tightened again. "I understand you belong to Tenebrarum now. Everyone does. But I thought—" he exhaled sharply through his nose— "I thought you'd be stronger than this."
He leaned in, just enough to make her look up at him.
"And Kaelen…?"
His lip curled.
"He is nothing."
Aurelia's breath hitched.
Her fingers twisted in the sheet, knuckles whitening.
"There's no way I can escape him," she whispered. "No way…"
Calvus's eyebrows rose slightly—almost surprised she admitted it.
"You should've asked," he said quietly. "I was thinking of helping you escape the palace." He paused, studying her face. "What do you think?"
Aurelia stared at him, stunned. "Why… why would you help me?"
Calvus lowered his gaze for a moment, then lifted it again, slower this time.
"Because Gaius was a good friend," he said. "And I owe him. I will repay that kindness—through you."
"What do u think "he added,
Aurelia looked at him, really looked at him, weighing every expression that flickered across his face.
Trust him?
Or turn away before she made another mistake?
The silence between them thickened, filling the room like smoke.
Calvus waited—too still, too tense—and she could feel the pressure of his expectations pressing against her ribs.
Her mind spiraled.
Aurelia's thoughts tangled, pulling her in three different directions at once.
Tenebrarum—dangerous, relentless, monstrous… yet she had started to understand him, even care in a way that terrified her.
Kaelen—soft safety, steady hands, a piece of peace she thought she'd never feel again.
Sorana—poison and cruelty, but also strange companionship, a girl who hated her and yet almost understood her.
Her world was no longer divided into enemies and allies. It was shifting, changing, swallowing her old beliefs whole.
Had she changed?
Was Calvus right?
She wasn't sure anymore.
Her voice trembled as she forced it out.
"Why are you saying all this?"
Calvus stopped at the door.
He didn't turn around, but his fingers tightened around the handle until his knuckles went white.
"I told you," he said quietly. "I'm trying to support you. Even when everything in me says I shouldn't."
The silence between them deepened, heavy as stone.
"I'm making a hard decision too," he continued, his voice lower now. "If I help you escape, Tenebrarum will kill me. If I don't… I'll watch you become someone unrecognizable."
He finally turned his head just enough for her to see the shadowed angle of his face.
"I was right. You have changed."
Aurelia felt her breath tighten in her chest. Calvus's footsteps shifted—one step back, then another—as if he had already accepted her refusal.
His hand slid toward the door, fingers brushing the iron handle.
"I'll go," he said quietly. "I'll leave."
The words sank into her like a stone dropped into still water, sending ripples through everything she thought she understood.
She sat there, fingers curling slowly into the sheets, eyes narrowing as the weight of her choice settled over her shoulders. Her throat tightened. She could still feel Kaelen's warmth in her mind, Tenebrarum's cold protection, Sorana's reluctant companionship. This strange world of demons and shadows was becoming familiar—too familiar.
Her past tugged at her like chains around her ankles. Her present pulled her forward like a hand she wasn't sure she could refuse.
Calvus's palm pressed fully against the door. He was seconds from leaving.
Aurelia lifted her chin.
Her voice came out hoarse but clear.
"When are we escaping?"
Calvus stopped mid-step.
The shift in him was almost invisible—just the way his shoulders straightened, the way his head tilted as if he were hiding the first flicker of a smirk. He turned slowly, controlling his movements, face carefully neutral.
But his eyes—his eyes gleamed with something she couldn't read.
"Today," he said. "by dawn."
Aurelia exhaled, a long, unsteady breath. She didn't see the slight curl at the corner of his mouth. She didn't notice how his fingers tightened with quiet satisfaction.
She didn't see the truth.
She had stepped exactly where he wanted her.
Calvus bowed his head slightly in a gesture of respect that didn't match the sharpness in his gaze.
"You made the right choice," he murmured.
But as he slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him, the last expression that flickered across his face wasn't relief.
It was victory.
He had waited years for this moment.
And now…
Aurelia was finally within his reach.
Not as a lover, not as someone to cherish — but as the girl whose life had been tied to his since the day her parents ruined his own.
The girl he had sworn he would one day confront. The girl he believed fate owed him.
She was walking straight into his hands.
At last, everything he had waited for was unfolding.
"She was always meant to be mine," he murmured under his breath — not only speaking about the ownership of her body, but of her fate, her future, the vengeance he believed he had the right to take.
Calvus' eyes narrowed.
She trusted him now.
Or believed she had no choice.
Either way…
she had stepped onto the path he wanted.
And he would make sure she could never run from it again.
Is this love, obsession or vengeance?
----------------------------
To be continued...