We stayed like that for a long time, the cavern silent except for our synchronized breathing. My head rested against his chest, listening to the steady, unshakeable rhythm of his heart. The doubts that had plagued me, the lingering whispers of Marcus's manipulation, were finally silenced, burned away in the furnace of Callum's obsession. He had systematically destroyed my trauma, proving with brutal, irrefutable evidence that his kingdom was not a cage, but a throne he was forcing me to claim.
Eventually, the freezing wind outside the cavern shifted, carrying the faint, muffled sounds of the guards stirring. Callum kissed the crown of my head, a surprisingly tender gesture from a monster, before shifting my weight off his lap.
"The storm is breaking," he said, his voice returning to its
