Forbidden Love
712 Words
The nights grew colder, but I kept finding my way back to Kael. We didn’t meet by accident anymore—it was a choice. A dangerous one.
He showed me a part of the forest I’d never seen, deep and hidden, where time felt slower and the air thrummed with energy. We sat beneath a crooked tree with black bark and red leaves that shimmered like embers.
“This place is connected to my bloodline,” Kael said, resting his back against the trunk. “It’s where my father first touched this world.”
I reached out, brushing my fingers along one of the glowing leaves. “It’s beautiful. And terrifying.”
“Like me?”
I looked at him. “Not like you. You’re more than what he made you.”
Kael turned to me, eyes serious. “Eva, you don’t know what he’ll do if he finds out. He doesn’t just punish rebellion—he breaks it.”
“Then we stay quiet,” I said, moving closer. “We stay careful.”
His jaw clenched. “I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”
“I’d rather be hurt with you than safe without you.”
He didn’t speak—just reached for my hand, his touch warm and grounding. There was power in that moment. Not the kind that destroys—but the kind that defies everything.
His lips lingered on mine, warm and trembling. When we finally pulled apart, we didn’t speak. The silence between us wasn’t awkward—it was full. Heavy with everything we couldn’t say out loud.
Kael’s thumb brushed my cheek, gentle, careful, like I might vanish. “You don’t know what you’ve just done,” he murmured.
“I kissed the boy I love,” I said simply.
His eyes closed for a moment, and when they opened, they were darker. Not evil—haunted. “You gave him a reason to hate you.”
“Your father?”
Kael nodded. “He watches everything. He’s been waiting for me to fail. Loving you… that’s his proof. He’ll come now.”
I should’ve been afraid. Maybe part of me was. But stronger than fear was the pull I felt toward Kael. Something deep, ancient—like my soul had known his before I was even born.
“I don’t care what he is,” I said. “He doesn’t get to decide who you are.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “He thinks I’m weak because I care for you. But he’s wrong. You make me stronger.”
Just then, the sky cracked—lightning without thunder—and the air turned cold. Kael stiffened.
“He’s close,” he whispered. “He’s testing me.”I stepped closer, pressing my palm to his chest. “Then let him see you choose your own path.”
And in that moment, something inside him shifted. The shadows around his hands faded. His breathing steadied. He was still Kael. Still fighting.
He held me tightly, like I was his lifeline—and maybe I was.
But deep down, I knew this was just the beginning.
For a while, we just existed. No devil. No legacy. Just a boy and a girl sitting in a cursed forest, falling into something neither of us could stop.
But peace doesn’t last in stories like ours.
Later that week, someone from town saw us—Mrs. Caldwell, the florist. I saw her expression change from curiosity to fear the second she recognized Kael. By morning, the whispers returned, louder and sharper.
“Eva’s been seen with *him.*”
“They say he speaks to shadows.”
“She’s cursed now.”
Kael began to pull away.
“I shouldn’t have let you get close,” he told me one night. “I’m bringing destruction to your life.”
I reached for him. “You’re bringing truth to it. And I’m not going anywhere.”
He looked at me with that storm behind his eyes—and kissed me. Gently at first, then with everything he had left. It felt like a vow. Like a warning.
We were breaking rules written in blood. And we didn’t care.
But the devil was watching. And he never forgives betrayal.
- Writer
