The marble floor beneath Alina’s feet seemed alive with the tension that rippled between the two brothers. Kael stood tall, every line of his body taut as a drawn bow, shadows flickering around him like smoke ready to choke the air. Across from him, Riven leaned lazily against a column, his half-smile sharp as a blade, firelight from the braziers painting his dark hair copper.
They were opposites in every sense—Kael, controlled fury, a storm of shadow. Riven, dangerous charm, fire wrapped in silk. And she was trapped between them.
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” Kael said, his voice low and cutting, directed at his brother but meant for her as well. His eyes, storm-dark, lingered on Alina like a hand gripping too tight.
Riven pushed off the column, slow, deliberate, like a predator c
