The summit ended in a silence that was louder than any declaration of war.
Evren stormed out first.
Kaelion followed.
He found Evren in the training yard, striking at a practice dummy with wild, furious swings. His knuckles were split and bleeding. His face was a mask of raw emotion.
"You said that in front of the entire court," Evren snapped without turning. "You made it sound like I'm your property."
"You are," Kaelion said, his voice flat.
Evren whirled around, chest heaving. "Excuse me?"
Kaelion didn't move a muscle. "You belong to this alliance. To this court. To the fragile peace we are barely holding together."
Evren's breathing was ragged. "Then why does it feel like it's about more than that?"
Kaelion said nothing.
Evren stepped closer, a challenge in his eyes. "You hate when Theron gets near me, but you won't admit why."
Still, Kaelion held his silence.
"I am not yours to control," Evren hissed.
"No," Kaelion murmured, the word dangerously soft. "But if you fall into his hands, I will burn both our courts to the ground to get you back."
Evren froze.
The fire in Kaelion's eyes wasn't love it was pure possession, fury, and a desperation so raw it was terrifying. Something not yet softened by affection.
Evren took a shaky breath. "You scare me sometimes."
Kaelion looked away, his profile sharp against the setting sun. "Good."
Evren sat alone on the palace balcony long after sunset, legs dangling over the lethal drop, a full glass of wine forgotten in his hand.
Adira, his cousin and only true confidant, slid the door open quietly. "If you fall, I'm not climbing down to collect your bones. It's a long way down."
Evren didn't look at her. "The thought is tempting."
She joined him, dropping onto the cold stone with a groan. "You've been brooding. I thought that was Kaelion's specialty."
Evren offered a weak chuckle. "Apparently, it's contagious."
They sat in silence until Adira finally said, "You're not yourself."
"No. I'm something worse," he muttered, staring into the abyss below. "I don't know who I am anymore. I'm torn between wanting to punch Kaelion in the face... and-"
"And?" she pressed, her voice gentle.
Evren closed his eyes. "And feeling something when he looks at me. Something that shouldn't be there."
Adira raised a knowing eyebrow. "Do you want it to be there?"
He didn't answer. He couldn't.
"That's what I thought," she murmured. "Be careful, Evren. Kaelion isn't like us. He doesn't bend he breaks things. And you... you're softer on the inside than you act."
Evren finally took a bitter sip of wine. "I won't fall for him."
Adira stood and smirked down at him. "You're already falling, cousin. You just haven't hit the ground yet."
Kaelion stood in the war room, staring at the map but his mind was nowhere near the borders.
It was fixed on him.
Evren.
That damned, defiant look in his eyes. That rage. That hurt. That confusion Kaelion had caused and seemed powerless to stop causing.
"You're slipping," said Captain Dren, stepping beside him. "You've moved the same marker three times."
Kaelion didn't look up. "Leave."
"Your Highness-"
"Leave."
The room emptied, the door clicking shut with finality.
He gripped the edge of the table until the wood groaned and his knuckles turned bone-white.
He didn't want this. He didn't want... feelings.
But he couldn't stop thinking of Evren's trembling voice. His cracked laugh. His unquenchable fire.
He wasn't supposed to care.
And yet...
He cared too much.
He pressed a hand to his chest, where the ache had taken root. Not a physical pain. Not a weakness.
Something far worse.
"Pull yourself together," he muttered to the empty room.
But a part of him the human part long buried under layers of armor and duty didn't want to.
He wanted Evren.
And that terrified him more than any war.
Evren stood still as stone, his eyes flicking across the royal command scroll, his jaw clenching tighter with every word.
"You cannot be serious," he said flatly, crumpling the parchment in his grip.
Kaelion, standing across the chamber in full uniform, arms crossed, looked infuriatingly calm. "It's not a request. We leave at dawn."
Evren's laugh was utterly humorless. "You and me. Alone. For two days. Riding through unstable border territory. With no guards and no backups at all.
"Precisely," the king's advisor intoned. "You both know the terrain. You've survived worse."
"Survived each other?" Adira chimed in from the window seat, legs swinging, clearly entertained. "Because that might be the real threat."
Kaelion didn't react. Evren glared at him. "This was your idea, wasn't it?"
Kaelion's shoulder lifted in a slight shrug. "Does it matter?"
"It does when I start wondering if you volunteered just to find a convenient cliff to push me from."
Kaelion's lip twitched. "If I wanted you dead, Evren, you would be already."
"Comforting."
Adira stood, walking over with a grin. "Look at the bright side you'll finally get to bond. Maybe trade tragic backstories. Braid each other's hair."
"Say another word and I'll exile you myself," Evren snapped, brushing past her. He turned back to Kaelion. "Don't you dare give me orders out there. I don't answer to you."
Kaelion stepped closer, calm but intense. "Then don't fall behind."
The air crackled between them.
Evren's throat tightened. "If you think I'm just another pawn to boss around, think again."
"I don't," Kaelion said. "You're far too reckless for that."
"And you're too cold to trust."
"Good," Kaelion said, his voice dropping. "Then we understand each other."
They stood, barely inches apart, a single breath away from something either violent or intimate.
Adira broke the moment. "Please, please don't get murdered out there. Court gossip is so boring when you're not in it."
Evren didn't look away from Kaelion, his voice low. "If I come back with blood on my hands, it might not be from the border."
Kaelion's eyes flicked over Evren's face, searching something unreadable and hot in his gaze. "Then you'd better aim for the heart."
The sun had not yet risen, but the stables were alive with the sound of hooves and hushed whispers. Most kept their distance. Two of the kingdom's most volatile princes riding out alone? No one wanted to be caught in the crossfire.
Evren adjusted his saddle, tightening the strap with sharp, practiced tugs. His cloak was thick, suited for the biting mountain winds. He didn't look up when Kaelion approached, already mounted and silent as a ghost.
"Ready?" Kaelion asked.
Evren ignored him for a beat too long before swinging into his own saddle. "Didn't realize I needed your permission to be."
Kaelion didn't respond. He simply turned his horse toward the northern path. Evren followed without another word.
Hours passed in a heavy, unbroken silence.
The terrain shifted from cobbled roads to rough, untamed forest, the kingdom's dangerous borderlands looming ahead. This was a place of smugglers, rogue soldiers, and old wounds that still festered.
Kaelion finally spoke, his voice cutting through the quiet. "There's a stream ahead. We rest there before crossing."
Evren snorted. "You think I need breaks like one of your green recruits?"
Kaelion glanced back, his expression unreadable. "I don't care what you need. I care about what gets us across the border alive."
That irritated Evren more than it should have.
They dismounted near the stream. Kaelion moved with infuriating control, checking maps and scanning the terrain. Evren watched him from the shade of a pine, chewing on dried fruit as if it were his last meal.
"You always like giving orders," Evren muttered. "Even when no one's asking."
"You always like resisting them," Kaelion replied, not looking up from his map. "Even when they might save your life."
Evren stood slowly, stepping closer. "And you think you're the one who knows better? Just because you've spent years playing soldier while I was surviving assassination attempts before I could even walk?"
Kaelion finally looked at him, his gaze piercing. "You think I don't know what survival costs? I've seen more betrayal than you've read poems."
The words hit a nerve, striking too close to the core.
Evren turned away, his jaw a hard line. "Whatever. Just don't pretend you care."
Kaelion didn't answer right away. Then, quietly: "I don't. I just don't want your death staining my record."
Evren spun around, fire in his eyes. "You bastard."
Kaelion stepped closer, eliminating the space between them. "Hit me, then."
They were chest to chest now, breaths shallow, the tension coiled so tight a single word could snap it. But neither moved.
Somewhere in the dense woods, a twig cracked.
They turned in unison, weapons half-drawn, all personal fire forgotten replaced by the shared, sharp instinct of survival.
An enemy could be watching.
The moment passed. But the charged distance between them did not return.