Chapter Seven
1237 Words
Nyra stayed where she was after sitting down, even though everything in her still felt unsettled.
Now that she wasn’t moving, the pain came in properly. The scrape on her arm burned more than before, and the cut along her side had started to throb in a way she couldn’t ignore. Her clothes were still damp from the river, and the cold had worked its way into her bones.
She rested her hands lightly against her thighs, trying to steady her breathing.
For the first time since she woke up, she felt tired.
Not just physically.
Everything at once.
Kael was still in the room. She hadn’t heard him move, but she knew he hadn’t left. She could feel it, the same way she had felt him in the forest before she ever saw him.
Nyra lifted her head and looked at him.
He was watching her.
Not closely. Not intensely.
She looked away first.
He moved a moment later, walking toward a table along the wall. Nyra watched from the corner of her eye as he picked up a cloth and something else she couldn’t quite see. When he turned back toward her, she straightened slightly.
“I said I’m fine,” she said before he got too close.
He didn’t stop.
“You’re not.”
Nyra let out a small breath, more tired than irritated. “It’s nothing.”
“It isn’t.”
She almost argued again, but the words didn’t come out as strongly as before.
He stopped in front of her and reached for her arm.
Nyra flinched.
“Don’t,” she said, quieter this time.
Kael paused.
For a second, neither of them moved.
Then he said, “You can keep pretending, or you can let me deal with it.”
Nyra looked at him, really looked this time.
He didn’t seem impatient. He didn’t seem concerned either.
She exhaled slowly.
She didn’t like this. Any of it. Being here. Being seen. Being handled like this.
But she also knew she wouldn’t have made it out of the forest on her own.
That thought settled heavier than she expected.
After a moment, she let her arm relax.
“Fine,” she said. “Just… be careful.”
He didn’t respond to that.
He took her arm again, more carefully this time, turning it slightly to look at the scrape. When the cloth touched her skin, Nyra tensed, her shoulders tightening.
It stung more than she thought it would.
She pulled in a breath but stayed still.
Kael didn’t rush.
“You’re lucky it’s not deeper,” he said.
Nyra gave a small, tired huff. “You’ve said that already.”
He finished with her arm and moved to the cut along her side. Nyra hesitated again, her hand tightening slightly against the edge of the chair.
“That one’s worse,” he said.
“I noticed.”
“You should have stopped earlier.”
Nyra let out a quiet breath. “I didn’t exactly have time to sit down and think.”
There was a slight edge to her voice, but it didn’t carry the same strength as before.
Kael didn’t react to it. He just cleaned the wound.
This time, the pain hit sharper.
Nyra sucked in a breath, her fingers tightening against the chair as she tried not to move. Her eyes shut briefly before she forced them open again.
He noticed.
But he didn’t stop.
When he finished, he stepped back.
“That’s enough for now,” he said.
Nyra let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
For a moment, she just sat there, letting her body settle again.
Then she looked up at him.
“You knew something was coming,” she said.
He didn’t deny it. “I knew something would.”
“That wasn’t just something.”
“No.”
Nyra studied him, trying to read something in his expression.
“You weren’t surprised.”
“I wasn’t.”
She looked away for a second, then back.
“So you knew they were after me.”
“I knew they were looking for something.”
“And you think that something is me.”
Kael didn’t answer right away.
Nyra shifted slightly in her seat. “That’s not a guess,” she said. “That’s what you believe.”
He held her gaze.
“You crossed into the territory with one already tracking you,” he said. “That doesn’t happen by accident.”
Nyra swallowed.
The memory came back too easily—the grip on her arm, the certainty in it, the way it had felt like she wasn’t getting away.
She pushed the thought aside.
“I didn’t ask for that, or any of this”, she said quietly.
“But it doesn’t matter.”
She let out a small breath.
“What are they?”
“Vampires.”
The word sat heavily between them.
Nyra didn’t react immediately, but something in her chest tightened anyway.
“And they won’t stop,” he added.
She nodded once, almost to herself.
“Because of my blood.”
“Yes.”
Nyra looked down at her hands for a moment.
“They’ve been following me for a while,” she admitted, her voice quieter now. “I just didn’t know what they were.”
Kael didn’t interrupt.
She looked back up.
“You seem very sure about all of this.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer.
Nyra let out a soft breath, not quite frustrated this time. Just tired.
“So you know something you’re not telling me.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head slightly. “That’s… great.”
“It’s enough for now.”
Nyra leaned back a little, wincing slightly before settling again.
“You expect me to just sit here and trust you?”
“I don’t.”
She paused.
That caught her off guard.
“Then what do you expect?” she asked.
Kael held her gaze.
“I expect you to stay alive.”
Nyra went quiet.
That was the first thing he had said that didn’t sound like control.
It sounded like fact.
She didn’t respond.
She didn’t know how to.
The room stayed quiet for a moment.
Then—
A knock sounded at the door.
It was firm. Not hesitant.
Kael’s attention shifted immediately.
“Come in,” he said.
The door opened, and the man from the clearing stepped in.
His eyes went to Nyra briefly before settling on Kael.
“They’re still around,” he said.
Nyra’s stomach dropped slightly.
“What do you mean?” she asked before she could stop herself.
The man glanced at her, then back at Kael.
“We found another one near the boundary,” he said. “Watching.”
Nyra felt it again.
That same tight feeling in her chest.
“They’re not leaving,” she said.
Kael didn’t look at her.
“I didn’t expect them to.”
The man stepped further in. “This is because of her.”
Nyra looked away this time.
He looked at Kael.
“This doesn’t end here.”
Kael’s expression didn’t change.
“I know.”
Nyra leaned back slowly, her mind catching up all over again.
The forest.
The river.
The vampire.
This.
None of it was over.
Not even close.
But this time, she didn't want to run alone.
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