CHAPTER THREE — THE MAN WHO SEES TOO MUCH
980 Words
Adella was certain she wouldn’t sleep that night.
Not after the way Kian had looked at her in the corridor.
Not after the almost touch that felt like a lightning strike waiting to happen.
The palace guest wing was quiet when she entered, but her pulse wasn’t. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it, dragging in a breath as though the air in Lucentha had suddenly become heavier… thicker… charged.
She set her violin case on the dresser and approached the balcony. The glass doors were open, letting the night breeze spill in. She inhaled deeply, letting the moonlight settle her.
But her reflection in the glass startled her.
Her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright, her pulse fluttering against her neck…
All because of a man she had met barely hours ago.
A dangerous man.
A man who looked at her as though he wanted to consume her whole.
No.
She shook her head. She would not be foolish. She would not allow her life to be dictated by her father, by the Moretti name, by Cassian’s forced engagement, or by a stranger with hands that looked like they could break her in half.
She needed control.
She needed focus.
She lifted her violin and set it beneath her chin. Music always centered her always reminded her who she was outside the shadow of her family.
Her bow touched the strings.
And then
A soft knock.
Her breath caught.
No. Impossible.
Another knock. Slow. Deliberate.
She swallowed and opened the door.
Kian stood there.
Not dressed like a prince.
Not protected by distance or formalities.
Just a man.
A tall, dangerous man with midnight hair falling over his brow and eyes that were still burning from their earlier encounter.
“May I come in?” he asked, voice low, unsteady in a way that made heat pool in her stomach.
Adella knew the correct answer was no.
Princes did not wander into the rooms of musicians at night.
And women like her women who were already engaged by force did not open their doors.
But her fingers loosened around the handle.
The truth?
She wanted him inside.
She wanted to know why he looked at her like she mattered.
She stepped aside.
Kian entered slowly, his gaze sweeping the room, then settling on her violin.
“You play when you’re unsettled,” he said softly.
She stiffened. “How would you know that?”
“Because,” he murmured, stepping closer, “you look like someone who holds everything together until the music takes the weight from your hands.”
Her heartbeat stuttered. He was too close. Too perceptive. Too intense.
“This isn’t appropriate,” she whispered.
“Nothing about tonight feels appropriate,” he replied, “but here I am.”
“Kian”
He exhaled sharply, like he was battling with something inside himself. Then he ran a hand through his hair.
“Adella… there is something about you I can’t ignore.”
Her breath trembled.
“You don’t even know me,” she said, forcing steadiness she didn’t feel.
“That’s the problem,” he said. “I want to.”
The words hit her stomach like molten heat. But she stepped back, because that heat terrified her.
“Kian, my life is complicated. This... whatever this is can’t happen.”
His jaw tightened. “Because you’re engaged to that man.”
“That man,” she repeated, forcing calm, “is my father’s choice. Not mine.”
His expression shifted anger, protectiveness, possessiveness flickering in his eyes.
“Did you want him?” Kian asked, voice strained.
“No,” she said instantly.
Silence fell between them thick, heavy, electric.
He moved closer again, slowly this time, like giving her a chance to stop him.
She didn’t.
He lifted his hand, paused, then brushed a strand of hair behind her ear in the softest, most devastating touch she had ever felt.
Her breath hitched.
“Adella…”
His voice was a temptation on its own.
She knew she should step away. She knew she should think of the engagement contract waiting to cage her. She knew this man was not safe for her heart.
But she didn’t move.
“Tell me to leave,” he whispered.
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
He leaned down slow, deliberate until his forehead touched hers. His breath warmed her lips. Her hands trembled at her sides.
She wanted him.
God, she wanted him in a way she had never wanted anything.
And that terrified her.
She finally found her voice.
“Kian… if we cross this line, everything changes.”
“It already has,” he murmured.
The way he said it like he had already chosen her sent a shiver down her spine.
But then, from somewhere deep in the palace, a distant sound echoed.
Footsteps. Fast ones. Coming closer.
Kian stiffened.
A hard knock slammed against her door.
“Adella?”
Cassian’s voice. Low. Cold. Possessive.
Adella’s blood ran cold.
Kian’s eyes darkened, fury rising like a storm.
Without thinking, she grabbed Kian’s wrist and pulled him behind the curtain beside the balcony doors, hidden from sight.
Cassian knocked again, harder this time.
“Open the door.”
Adella swallowed, steadied her breath, and stepped toward it.
But before she reached the handle, Kian’s hand caught her waist from behind silent, controlled, burning through her dress.
“Don’t let him touch you,” he whispered, a promise and a threat tangled together.
Her pulse pounded so loudly she feared Cassian could hear it through the door.
She drew in a breath, placed her hand on the handle
And opened it.
Cassian stood there with a storm in his eyes.
And just behind her, hidden in the shadows, Kian watched like a flame waiting to devour anyone who dared take what he wanted.
- Writer
