🎵 Music Suggestions While Reading:
Opening Scene: "Youth" – Daughter
Closing Scene: "My Demons" – James Young
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Lucian stood by the window long after Kyrell had fallen back asleep, curled into the curve of the blankets where their bodies had met—flesh to flesh, soul to soul.
The storm outside had not broken yet, but the wind howled like something mourning.
He gripped the edge of the windowsill so tightly that the wood cracked under his fingers.
He had kissed him. He had felt him. And for a moment, it had felt like absolution.
But there were things Kyrell did not yet remember. Things Lucian had no right to hide... but no courage to unveil.
He turned sharply as a soft creak echoed behind him.
> "You don't sleep," Kyrell said, voice raspy.
Lucian offered a faint smile.
> "Not often."
Kyrell wrapped the blanket around himself and stepped closer, bare feet silent on the stone. His eyes searched Lucian's.
> "You're afraid."
Lucian didn't respond.
> "Of what I'll become," Kyrell whispered. "Or of what I already am."
Lucian's throat tightened. He stepped closer and brushed a thumb along Kyrell's jaw.
> "I'm afraid I'll lose you," he said. "Again."
The wind outside howled louder.
> "Then stop hiding from me."
> "And what if what you see in me destroys what's left of you?" Lucian asked, voice suddenly hoarse.
> "Then we destroy together," Kyrell said.
Their lips found each other again, not in desperation this time—but in something like reckoning. A kiss that lingered with the weight of promises yet to be kept.
---
Elsewhere…
A figure watched from the cragged hills, draped in blackened travel gear, eyes burning like twin coals under a furrowed brow.
Damien.
He'd followed Kyrell's scent across kingdoms. Across blood. Across betrayal.
He'd seen the mansion. The forest that never fully died. He'd watched them touch, kiss, fall into each other.
And something inside him split open.
> "So it's true," he muttered. "You gave yourself to him."
He turned sharply as footsteps echoed behind him.
> "You don't belong here," came a soft voice.
Renak.
The last person Damien wanted to see.
> "And you do?"
> "Lucian spared your life once," Renak said coldly. "Don't give him a reason to regret it."
Damien let out a bitter laugh.
> "You think this is about Lucian? No. This is about Kyrell." His hand clenched. "He doesn't even see what he's becoming."
Renak's eyes narrowed.
> "And you do?"
> "I've known him longer than all of you. I trained beside him. Bled beside him. Loved him."
> "Then you should have protected him from becoming a weapon."
> "Or maybe," Damien stepped forward, dangerously close, "I should've protected him from Lucian."
Renak's face shifted. Something flickered in his eyes—maybe pain. Maybe understanding. Maybe regret.
> "Leave now," Renak said.
> "Or?"
> "Or I won't stop him next time."
Damien's jaw tensed, but he turned and walked away, the wind wrapping around him like a curse. He didn't leave because he was afraid.
He left because his vengeance needed time to breathe..