Episode 14 — Bruised Hearts
397 Words
Seraphina avoided Kael for three days after the basement incident.
Not because she hated him.
That would have been easier.
No—
She avoided him because she could no longer pretend ignorance.
Kael was not merely dangerous.
He was violence wrapped inside elegance.
And the worst part?
A small, broken part of her felt safer knowing that violence belonged to her side.
The realization disgusted her.
By the fourth night, tension inside the mansion became unbearable.
So Seraphina escaped to the rooftop balcony overlooking Noctyra’s glittering skyline.
Cold wind tangled through her hair while distant thunder rolled across the city.
“You disappear whenever something unsettles you.”
Her eyes closed briefly.
Kael.
Of course.
He stepped onto the balcony beside her holding two glasses of whiskey.
“I don’t drink whiskey.”
“You do tonight.”
He handed her one anyway.
Seraphina accepted reluctantly.
For several minutes, silence stretched between them beneath the storm-dark sky.
Then—
“Did you enjoy it?”
Kael’s voice remained calm.
“The torture.”
Seraphina looked at him sharply. “You think I’m sick?”
“No,” he said quietly. “I think you’re trying to understand me.”
The honesty caught her off guard.
Rain began falling softly around them.
Kael loosened his tie slightly while staring out across the city lights below.
“When I was thirteen,” he murmured suddenly, “Lucien made me watch a man die.”
Seraphina froze.
Kael’s expression never changed.
“He said fear is the purest form of loyalty.”
The rain intensified slowly.
“And did you believe him?”
Kael smiled faintly.
A broken smile.
“I learned him.”
Something painful moved through Seraphina’s chest then.
Because suddenly—
She could see it.
The lonely child hidden beneath the monster.
Before she realized what she was doing—
Her fingers touched the scar near Kael’s hand lightly.
Kael went completely still.
Neither moved.
Rain soaked through their clothes silently.
Then Kael grabbed her wrist suddenly.
Not rough.
But firm.
His eyes lowered toward her lips for one dangerous second before returning upward again.
“Seraphina,” he whispered quietly, “you need to stop looking at me like that.”
Her breath caught.
“How am I looking at you?”
Kael’s jaw tightened slowly.
“Like you’re forgetting what I am.”
Episode End.
- Writer
