The Great Hall buzzed, a hive of silk and suspicion. Nobles from every province were seated in rows, council members lined the dais, and Kaelion stood beside Evren, his face a mask of royal indifference.
Then the doors opened.
Prince Theron strode in with a confidence that drew every eye. Dressed in deep crimson and gold, his thorn insignia gleaming on his chest, he paused just long enough to scan the room before locking eyes with Evren.
Evren shifted, a barely perceptible movement.
Kaelion noticed.
"Prince Theron of the Thorn Court," announced the steward.
"An ally of peace," Theron said smoothly, bowing just enough to be polite never submissive. "Here to propose an accord that benefits both our kingdoms."
He walked right past Kaelion and offered his hand to Evren.
A hush fell, so complete the rustle of gowns stilled.
Evren hesitated. The heat of Kaelion's stare was a brand on the side of his face.
Then, slowly, he took Theron's hand.
Kaelion's jaw tightened, a minute flex of muscle.
Theron smiled as if he'd just been handed the crown itself. "I'd like to request an audience with the bonded heir. Privately."
Before Evren could speak, Kaelion's voice cut through the silence, cold and final. "Denied."
Gasps echoed. A few nobles exchanged glances.
Theron didn't flinch. "Is this how the united throne handles diplomacy? By caging your bonded?"
Kaelion stepped forward, calm but lethal. "Touch him again without my permission, and we will see how the Thorn Court fares in exile."
Theron's smile widened. "Spoken like a man afraid of being replaced."
Kaelion moved, a blur of controlled fury, but Evren was faster, grabbing his wrist and holding him back. Their eyes locked, a silent war raging between them.
"Not here," Evren said, his voice low but carrying in the quiet. "Not like this."
Kaelion yanked his hand back as if burned and stormed from the hall, leaving a wake of frantic whispers.
Theron leaned close to Evren, his whisper a venomous caress. "You'll see. He can't protect you from everything."
Evren didn't move.
But something in his chest twisted.
Evren didn't chase Kaelion right away.
He stayed in the hall long enough to let the court see him calm unshaken. But inside, everything was churning. Theron's words were a poison in his veins.
When he finally made his way to Kaelion's quarters, the guards stepped aside without a word. The doors were unlocked.
Kaelion stood near the window, cloak discarded, gloves on the table, his back rigid.
"You humiliated me," he said, his voice dangerously flat.
Evren crossed his arms. "You humiliated yourself. You lost control."
Kaelion turned slowly, his eyes dark. "He touched you."
"And I stopped you from making it a spectacle."
Silence cracked like a whip between them.
"Do you have any concept of what that looked like to the court?" Kaelion asked, his voice rising. "They saw you hesitate."
Evren scoffed. "What was I supposed to do? Slap his hand away in front of a hundred nobles?"
Kaelion stepped closer, his gaze a physical weight. "You were supposed to choose me."
Evren blinked, the words striking a chord he hadn't known was there.
Kaelion's voice dropped, rough with emotion. "That is what this bond is. Or was I wrong to think you even cared what becomes of me?"
Evren's jaw clenched. "This bond didn't come with a manual. You think just because we were forced together, I owe you my every allegiance?"
"I am not asking for your allegiance," Kaelion said, the words quiet, stark. "I am asking for something real."
Evren stared at him past the anger, past the titles, past the war in both their heads.
"You want something real?" he said, his own voice low. "Then stop hiding behind orders and jealousy. Talk to me like I'm not just a piece on your chessboard."
Kaelion's eyes flickered with something unreadable. Then he stepped back, the distance feeling like a chasm.
"I will try," he said, his voice rough. "But not tonight."
He turned away.
Evren didn't stop him.
But the space between them had never felt more complicated or more charged.
The moon was high over the palace gardens, casting long, skeletal shadows between the hedges. Evren hadn't planned to meet Theron not really. But when the note arrived under his door, sealed with a rose-shaped wax mark, curiosity got the better of him.
Come alone
Stupid, and Dangerous.
But Evren slipped out anyway.
He found Theron leaning against a marble pillar, looking far too comfortable in enemy territory.
"Is this how the Thorn Court handles diplomacy?" Evren asked, arms crossed.
Theron smiled lazily. "Only when the usual methods prove ineffective."
Evren didn't move closer. "What do you want?"
"You," Theron said simply.
Evren blinked, thrown by the bluntness.
Theron stepped forward. "Not like Kaelion wants you. He sees a partner for his throne. I see a weapon the council underestimates. A prince who could start or end a war depending on how he smiles."
Evren frowned. "That sounds more like control than interest."
Theron chuckled. "Then perhaps I want both."
Before Evren could reply, the sound of footsteps made them freeze.
"Evren."
Kaelion's voice.
He stepped out from the shadows behind the hedge, his expression unreadable, but his golden eyes burning.
Evren stepped back from Theron instinctively.
Theron just smiled, calm as ever. "We were just talking."
Kaelion didn't even glance at him. His eyes were on Evren alone.
And it wasn't anger Evren saw there.
It was hurt.
"You left your chambers without telling anyone," Kaelion said tightly. "Again."
"I didn't think I needed permission."
"You don't," he said. "But you could have told me."
Evren swallowed, the guilt sharp and unexpected. "I didn't think you would care."
Kaelion looked at him for a long, devastating moment, then turned and walked away.
This time, Evren wanted to follow.
But he didn't.
The air in the palace felt colder the next day.
Evren hadn't seen Kaelion since the garden. He expected rage. Fury. An ambush in the council chamber.
But Kaelion didn't show, not for the strategy meeting, not for the morning patrol review, not even for meals.
By nightfall, Evren had enough. He stormed toward the training grounds, where the distant, furious clang of metal echoed through the night.
There he was Kaelion, shirt plastered to his torso with sweat, driving his blades into a wooden target as if he could exorcise his demons through sheer violence.
"Still brooding?" Evren called.
Kaelion didn't stop.
"Seriously?" Evren stepped onto the sand. "You're mad at me for not being your lapdog?"
Kaelion dropped the blade, the clatter loud in the night. "You think that's what this is about?"
Evren crossed his arms. "Then enlighten me."
Kaelion turned, his voice sharp as shattered glass. "You trusted him. You went to him. After everything."
"I didn't trust him," Evren snapped. "I went because he's dangerous, and I need to know why he's here what he wants."
"He wants you."
"So do you!" Evren shot back, the truth tearing from him. "But at least he has the courage to say it."
Silence.
Kaelion's eyes burned into his. "You want words, Evren? Fine. I want you. I want you safe. I want you close. But not because of the bond. Not out of duty. Because you're-"
He stopped himself, cutting off the confession.
Evren stared at him, his breath uneven.
Kaelion stepped back, the fight draining from him. "But you won't believe me. Not until I bleed for it."
"Then don't bleed," Evren whispered, the anger gone, leaving only a raw ache. "Just… stay."
Kaelion didn't move.
Evren looked away first, the moment too vast to hold. "We're not ready. You and me. Not yet."
Kaelion nodded once, slowly. "Then I will wait. But I will not stand by and watch him take you."
Evren turned away, heart hammering, pretending he didn't want to believe him already.
Evren woke to a fist pounding on his door.
Not palace guards., not a handmaiden.
It was Riven, Kaelion's most trusted warrior.
"Your Highness" dress. Now," Riven barked. "There's been an attack. A border outpost has gone dark."
Evren's blood ran cold.
Fifteen minutes later, he was armored and on horseback, riding beside a silent Kaelion through the forest mist. The tension between them hadn't thawed, but war had a way of forcing a temporary truce.
When they reached the outpost, the smoke told the story burned banners, shattered gates, blood darkening the snow.
"By the abyss…" Evren whispered.
Kaelion walked ahead, his face a stone mask. His voice was steel. "The Thorn Court did this."
Evren's eyes snapped to him. "How can you be sure?"
Kaelion held up a small, glass vial with a crimson liquid swirling inside. "Laced fire. Illegal in every court but theirs. Whoever did this wanted to be known."
"Or start a war."
Kaelion turned to him. "It has already begun."
A flicker of pain crossed Evren's face. "I thought… perhaps if I kept talking to Theron-"
"Do not finish that sentence," Kaelion snapped, his composure cracking.
Evren bit his lip. "You still think I'm a foolish, naive royal?"
Kaelion didn't answer. Instead, he walked into the ashes and knelt beside a body. One of their own.
Young. Barely trained.
Evren came to stand beside him quietly.
"They are testing us," Kaelion muttered. "Poking holes in our armor before they strike for real."
Evren placed a hand on Kaelion's shoulder.
He didn't shrug it off.
They stayed like that for a moment, not quite allies, not quite enemies, bound together by blood and politics, but not yet by trust.
When Kaelion finally stood, he looked at Evren and said quietly, "I do not care if you hate me, Evren. But do not give them what they want."
Evren stared at him. "And what is it they want?"
Kaelion's jaw tightened. "You."
Three days after the outpost attack, the palace hosted a diplomatic summit.
A disaster waiting to happen.
Evren knew it was a trap but the crown demanded presence, and Kaelion, for once, was silent. Cold. Distant. Watching from the shadows like a predator waiting for blood.
And then, Theron arrived with no guards.
Just devastating confidence.
He strolled into the marble hall, wine-red robes flowing behind him, his eyes locking on Evren as if no one else existed.
"My prince," he said, bowing low with a smirk. "You look… tired."
Evren didn't flinch. "Funny. You look like betrayal dipped in paints.
Theron laughed softly. "We all wear masks, do we not?"
Evren stepped closer, his tone hushed. "What do you want, Theron?"
Theron didn't blink. "You."
Kaelion's voice sliced through the tension, clear and commanding.
"He is not yours to want."
Everyone froze.
Kaelion stepped from the shadows, his boots echoing on the marble, his face an unreadable mask of power. "Touch him again without his consent, and I will consider it an act of war."
Theron's eyes glittered with malicious delight. "You speak like a man in love."
Kaelion smiled a cold, sharp thing that didn't reach his eyes. "I speak like a commander and a king who knows what is his to protect."
Evren stood between them, his heart racing.
But the line between duty and desire was blurring beyond recognition and the entire court was watching it happen.