Episode -----14
Rain hammered the villa's broken tiles, drumming like restless thoughts.
In the study, Aria found Raian by the cold fireplace, shirt sleeves rolled, a fresh bandage peeking under black fabric.
She walked closer. "You should let me check that wound."
"I'm fine," he muttered.
"You're bleeding through," she pressed, voice soft but steady.
His eyes lifted — tired, wary. But after a breath, he nodded.
Aria's fingers brushed warm skin, pulling the cloth aside. A deep cut, not fresh — but still angry red. "It'll open if you move too fast," she warned.
"Moving fast keeps us alive," Raian murmured, gaze locked on her face.
She swallowed. "You can't protect anyone if you're dead."
He flinched at that, eyes shadowed. "I've learned," he said quietly, "that protecting people costs blood. Usually mine."
"And sometimes theirs?" she whispered, remembering the courtyard, the bodies.
Raian's jaw tightened. "Sometimes. And that price… I pay it gladly if it keeps you breathing."
Outside, thunder rumbled.
Aria dared to ask: "What did it cost you before?"
He didn't answer. But in the raw quiet, she saw it: grief buried under scars, rage forged into survival.
Some wounds, she realized, don't close. They deepen.
---see you in next episode....