Episode 18 — Storm Warning
379 Words
Thunder shook the sky above Noctyra while Blackthorn Estate drowned beneath another sleepless night.
Seraphina couldn’t breathe properly.
Not after the banquet.
Not after Kael’s words.
Belong.
The word replayed endlessly inside her mind like a dangerous obsession.
She hated how much it affected her.
Hated how one sentence from him could unravel her entire composure.
Unable to sleep, she wandered downstairs sometime after midnight only to notice dim light beneath the library doors.
Kael.
Of course.
He stood beside the fireplace reading intelligence reports while rain shadows flickered across his face. His tie had been loosened again, sleeves rolled slightly upward.
Beautiful men were dangerous.
But tired powerful men?
Those were catastrophic.
Kael noticed her immediately.
“You should be asleep.”
“So should you.”
“I stopped sleeping properly years ago.”
The honesty surprised her.
Seraphina stepped inside quietly. “Why?”
Kael closed the file slowly.
“When people constantly try killing you, sleep becomes inconvenient.”
The answer sounded casual.
Too casual.
Seraphina leaned against the bookshelf while studying him carefully.
“Did you mean what you said tonight?”
Kael’s eyes lifted toward her calmly. “Which part?”
“That I belong to someone.”
Silence stretched heavily.
Kael walked toward her slowly until only inches separated them again.
The firelight sharpened every cruelly beautiful angle of his face.
“You belong to the Vespera family,” he said quietly.
“That’s not what you meant.”
His jaw tightened slightly.
Seraphina’s pulse quickened.
“Then what did you mean?”
Kael stared at her for several dangerous seconds before speaking.
“You ask questions you’re not prepared to hear answers to.”
Her breath caught softly.
“Try me.”
For one impossible moment—
Kael looked tempted.
Truly tempted.
Then suddenly—
His phone rang.
The atmosphere shattered instantly.
Kael answered immediately, expression hardening within seconds.
“What happened?”
Silence.
Then his eyes darkened violently.
“Where?”
Seraphina straightened instantly.
Kael ended the call before grabbing his coat.
“What happened?”
He looked toward her.
And something about his expression made fear crawl through her chest immediately.
“Another witness connected to your parents’ accident,” he said quietly.
“He’s dead.”
Episode End.
- Writer
