CHAPTER 07— Sleepless Hearts
975 Words
(Kaela)
Kaela can’t breathe.
Not properly.
Not fully.
She’s been pacing her room for an hour, her bare feet tapping softly on the expensive rug, her pulse still doing that wild, stupid sprint every time she blinks and remembers—
His breath on her lips.
His fingers on her neck.
His body inches from hers.
She groans and drops face-first onto her bed.
“Why did I let him get that close?”
Her voice is muffled in the pillow, but even saying it out loud does nothing.
Her skin still tingles where Vionn touched her.
Her neck.
Her cheek.
Her waist when he caged her.
She sits up violently, hugging her knees.
“He’s dangerous. He’s… Vionn.”
Cold, stern, unreadable Vionn.
The man she swore she would never fall for.
The man who signed a marriage contract like it was a business deal.
The man who acts like he owns the world—
—and tonight acted like he wanted to own her.
Kaela rubs her face.
“I shouldn’t feel like this.”
But her heart doesn’t care.
It keeps replaying that moment when his forehead touched hers, that shaky breath he let out like he wanted her more than he should.
She touches her fingertips to her lips.
Almost.
So damn close.
Then she remembers Sophia bursting in like a terrified mouse, and Kaela lets out a strangled laugh.
“Thank god she interrupted…”
A pause.
“…right?”
But her chest squeezes painfully.
Because a tiny part of her—the part she doesn’t dare look at—
wishes Sophia had been a few seconds later.
Her cheeks burn.
“Oh god, what is wrong with me?”
She lies back on the bed again, staring at the ceiling.
Sleep?
Impossible.
All she can see is Vionn leaning in, voice husky, whispering:
“Tell me to stop.”
She never said it.
Not really.
Not with meaning.
And they both knew.
---
(Vionn)
Vionn hasn't moved from the hallway.
He stands exactly where she left him minutes ago, maybe hours—he isn’t sure.
His heart is still hammering, beating too fast for someone who prides himself on control.
Control he completely lost the moment Kaela looked at him with those wide hazel eyes like she wanted him too.
He drags a hand through his hair, cursing under his breath.
“What the hell was that, Vionn?”
He shouldn’t have touched her.
Shouldn’t have leaned in.
Shouldn’t have pinned her against the wall like that—
But god, the moment her fingers curled in his shirt…
That tiny, helpless sound she made when he touched her jaw…
He was gone.
He closes his eyes, remembering every detail.
The warmth of her breath.
How her lips parted when he whispered.
How she whispered his name like she wasn’t sure whether to push him away or pull him closer.
He grips the railing hard enough that his knuckles turn white.
He wanted to kiss her.
He wanted it too much.
And when she said “don’t,” her voice broke—
not with fear,
but with confusion.
With want.
Vionn exhales shakily, leaning his forehead against the cold wall.
“This is a mistake,” he mutters.
“You can’t want her. You can’t—”
But the lie tastes bitter.
He wants her.
Wants her in ways he shouldn’t.
Ways that cross every boundary he set the day their arranged marriage began.
He swore he would never ask her for affection.
He swore he would never blur the line.
Tonight, he almost shattered it.
He pushes away from the wall and walks to his room, stripping off his shirt and tossing it aside.
The room feels too quiet.
Too cold.
He sits on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor.
He can’t sleep.
Every time he closes his eyes, he sees her pressed against the wall with those trembling lips inches from his.
He growls low in his throat.
“This can’t happen.”
But the image won’t fade.
Neither will the feeling.
For the first time since their marriage, he’s not thinking about duty.
Or politics.
Or business.
He’s thinking about her.
Not as a wife he doesn’t touch.
But as a woman he wants badly enough to lose every piece of restraint.
---
(Kaela)
It’s well past midnight when she opens her window, the cool wind brushing her cheeks.
The Blackwood gardens are quiet below, lit by faint lanterns.
Everything looks peaceful.
But her mind isn’t.
She hugs herself and whispers, “I don’t understand him.”
Cold one moment.
Possessive the next.
Tonight—almost tender.
She sits on the windowsill, knees tucked in, staring at the moon.
She hates him.
She’s sure of it.
…except her heart didn’t hate him when he touched her.
It didn’t hate him when he whispered her name like a prayer he wasn’t allowed to say.
It didn’t hate him when he looked at her like she was the first thing that could break him.
Kaela presses her forehead to her knees.
“If he kisses me… everything will change.”
And she’s terrified it already has.
---
(Vionn)
Vionn gets up from the bed and walks to his window, staring into the same night sky Kaela is looking at.
He wonders if she’s awake.
He knows she is.
He feels it.
He rests a hand on the glass.
“We’re going to ruin each other,” he whispers to no one.
And for the first time since the marriage,
he’s not sure he minds.
---
(Kaela)
She lies back down, closing her eyes.
Sleep finally comes—
not gentle,
not deep—
but filled with a dangerous truth:
She didn’t want him to stop.
Not really.
And tomorrow, facing him will be impossible.
- Writer
