CHAPTER FOUR — SHADOWS BETWEEN US
1130 Words
Cassian stood in the doorway like a man who owned everything his eyes touched.
His gaze swept over Adella, sharp and calculating, searching for something out of place.
Adella forced her breath to steady. Behind her, hidden by the long velvet curtains, Kian stood silent, every inch of him coiled tension.
Cassian stepped inside without waiting for permission.
“You’re awake,” he said, closing the door behind him. His voice was deceptively calm, but Adella noticed the slight twitch in his jaw he was irritated. Suspicious.
“I was practicing,” she replied, gesturing toward her violin.
“Practicing at midnight?”
He took a slow step closer, his eyes drifting to her lips, then her neck, as if tasting the idea of possession.
Outside her view, Kian’s fists tightened.
Cassian circled the room once, as though inspecting his property. Then he turned to her and smiled cold, precise, a smile that never reached his eyes.
“I came to check on you,” he said. “You left the dinner early.”
Adella clasped her hands behind her back so he wouldn’t see them tremble.
“I didn’t feel well.”
A lie.
And Cassian knew it.
He moved closer, close enough that she could smell his cologne. “Adella… we can’t afford to draw attention. Not now. Not with the engagement ceremony being finalized.”
Her stomach twisted.
She wanted to step back, but she remembered Kian was behind the curtain. One wrong move, one wrong shift of her gaze, and Cassian would know.
“I’m aware,” she whispered.
His fingers lifted, brushing a strand of hair from her face. A touch meant to look tender yet it made her skin crawl.
“You’re tense,” he murmured. “Did something happen?”
Everything.
Too much.
More than she could ever say.
“No,” she said quickly.
Cassian’s eyes narrowed. Suspicion sharpened his expression. He stepped even closer, his breath grazing her cheek.
“You’re lying.”
Her heartbeat shattered into a frantic rhythm. If he touched her again, Kian would break out of the shadows and she didn’t know if she could stop him.
She turned away, pretending to adjust something on the dresser. “It’s been a long day. That’s all.”
He studied her, reading her like a puzzle he intended to solve. “You’re hiding something.”
“I’m not.”
Cassian exhaled slowly, then walked toward the balcony. He paused near the curtain so close Adella felt her knees weaken but he didn’t part it.
Kian was inches from him, invisible in the shadows, his eyes burning with lethal fury.
Cassian placed his hand on the balcony railing and spoke without looking back.
“Your father contacted me earlier.”
Adella’s blood ran cold.
Kian stiffened behind her, listening.
Cassian continued, “He’s worried you’ll ruin the arrangement.”
Her voice shook before she could stop it. “I never asked for an arrangement.”
“And yet,” Cassian said, turning with a small smile, “your father believes this marriage will save him.”
Adella froze.
Save him?
Cassian walked toward her, each step deliberate.
“You really don’t know, do you?” he said softly.
“Know what?”
He reached out and held her face, not gently. “Your father is in debt. Serious debt. Dangerous debt.”
Adella blinked. The room tilted slightly.
“Cassian… what are you talking about?”
“He owes people money. The kind of people who don’t forgive. Your engagement to me fulfills a contract he couldn’t pay.”
Her breath stopped.
No.
No.
That couldn’t
Cassian continued, enjoying her reaction. “Your father offered you. As collateral. And I accepted.”
Every word slammed into her like a blow.
Behind the curtain, Kian’s rage erupted silently she felt it, like the air itself thickened.
“You’re lying,” she whispered.
Cassian tilted her chin up. “Do you think I would make up something this beneficial to me?”
She tried to pull back, but he held her firm. “Adella, listen carefully. Without this marriage, your father dies. And possibly you.”
Terror crawled up her spine.
Kian shifted behind her one step, barely audible, but she sensed his fury like a flame pressed to her skin.
Cassian dropped her chin and stepped back. “So you see… you don’t get to question me. You don’t get to run. You don’t get to refuse.”
Her throat tightened. “You can’t force me”
He cut her off with a smile far too calm.
“I’m not forcing you. You’re choosing to protect your father. That’s what makes this perfect.”
Adella’s knees weakened. She reached for the dresser for balance.
Cassian watched her struggle, pleased. “We’ll announce the engagement in three weeks. And then… you’ll belong to me.”
A quiet, lethal sound stirred behind her.
Kian.
Cassian didn't hear it.
But Adella did.
She forced her breathing to steady before Cassian noticed anything.
He moved toward the door, pausing to glance back at her. “Don’t stay up too late. Tomorrow is a big day for us.”
Us.
The word made her stomach revolt.
The door closed behind him.
Silence.
A heavy, blistering silence filled the room until Adella felt it in her bones.
Then
Kian stepped out from behind the curtain.
His eyes were not human at that moment.
They were fire.
Pure, uncontrollable fire.
“Adella,” he said, voice raw, “why didn’t you tell me?”
She shook her head, tears stinging her eyes. “I didn’t know.”
Kian closed the distance between them in three strides and caught her hands, holding them tightly, grounding her.
His voice lowered. Dark. Dangerous. “He thinks he owns you.”
Adella swallowed painfully. “What am I supposed to do? If I refuse my father”
Kian cupped her face with trembling hands.
“Look at me.”
She did.
His thumb brushed the tear from her cheek, slow and intimate.
“I’m not letting him take you,” he whispered.
Her breath caught.
“Kian… you can’t”
He leaned closer, tightening his hold on her hands as though anchoring her. “I don’t care what arrangement was made. You belong to no one.”
The words wrapped around her like heat, like danger, like something forbidden and irresistible.
Then he added, voice breaking with something fierce:
“And I will burn this entire kingdom before I let him touch you.”
Her heart stopped.
His forehead touched hers again this time with a desperation that made her knees go weak.
“Adella,” he breathed, “you’re not alone anymore.”
And for the first time, she believed it.
- Writer
