Veiled Eyes

Chapter 16

Deceit – noun: the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.

Kael was Harrowed.

His breathing deepened, each inhale dragging slow and wet through the air. The lines of his face sharpened, cheekbones cutting like blades beneath skin drawn too tight.

His fingers curled into claws—black talons that caught the dim light like polished obsidian. He still looked like himself… but wrong. His lips peeled back, revealing fangs that slid long and sharp from his gums. The tendons in his arms stood out in stark relief, muscles shifting under his soaked clothes with an unnatural ripple, as though his body couldn’t decide what it was becoming.

The Leviathan surged toward us, black water shattering against the stone.

Kael stepped forward, shielding me without so much as a glance back. When the first limb came crashing down, he didn’t dodge—he caught it. The ridged scales screamed against his grip as his clawed hands dug into the joint, twisting until something gave with a sickening c***k.

The Leviathan’s screech tore through the cavern, a sound so deep it rattled my teeth.

A growl rolled from Kael’s chest—low, guttural, and so vicious it made every hair on my body stand on end.

He moved like liquid shadow, faster and sharper than I’d ever seen. His strikes were brutal, precise, every motion carrying the intent to m**m.

He vaulted over a whipping tentacle, landed on the creature’s slick hide, and drove his claws deep into its pale flesh. Bright red blood erupted from the wound, splattered against the stone.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Could only watch as something not-quite-human fought to protect me.

He was stronger, faster—deadlier—than any human had a right to be. His glowing eyes locked on the Leviathan with a predator’s unblinking focus, every muscle drawn taut, coiled to kill. And for the first time, I understood—truly understood—why he could smell what I couldn’t, hear what I never did, see danger before it reached us.

He wasn’t human. He was a monster.

And yet… every strike, every violent tear of his claws, was to keep the beast from me.

The Leviathan lunged, angling toward Kael. My breath caught, that strange, unshakable connection to him pulling tight in my chest.

He didn’t flinch. In a blur, he was climbing its writhing body, using the lashing limbs as stepping stones until he reached its head. His claws tore into the slick, pale hide, peeling it back until the vertical seam of its maw split wide.

With a feral snarl, he plunged his claws deep into the roof of its mouth and ripped downward.

The Leviathan’s scream died in an instant. It convulsed—once, twice—before collapsing, its massive weight crashing into the shallows with bone-jarring force. Water exploded upward in a wave, drenching me to the skin, but I stayed frozen where I sat.

Kael stood over the twitching carcass, shoulders rising and falling in ragged pulls. The glow in his eyes still burned, his claws dripping black blood. For a long moment, he didn’t look at me—only stared down at what he’d slain, chest heaving like he was holding something back.

Then, slowly, he turned. The searing white of his gaze dimmed, melting back into the warm brown I knew. His claws retracted, fingers reforming into blood-stained hands, his torn clothes hanging heavy and wet against him.

He took a step toward me. Then another.

“Stay back,” I said, my voice shaking. I scrambled to my feet, backing away from him.

He lifted his hands slowly, palms open, his face twisting in something that looked almost like pain. “Thea,” he said, his voice raw.

“I said stay back!” I shouted, stumbling over loose stone. My leg throbbed, hot and sharp, the scabbed-over wound tearing open and bleeding anew. I ignored it, forcing myself farther from him.

His gaze dropped to my leg, his nostrils flaring. “Your leg,” he murmured, taking another step toward me.

“You’re one of them,” I said, my voice breaking as tears burned hot trails down my face.

His brow furrowed, confusion flickering before something colder slid into his expression. “Them?” he asked, his voice low, dangerous—and he froze in his tracks.

“Harrowed. You’re Harrowed!” I shouted, my chest tightening as I chanced a glance over my shoulder, gauging the distance to the nearest tunnel. It was close—too close for him not to notice what I was thinking.

His gaze darted to the tunnel behind me, reading my intent before I’d even moved. “Don’t,” he said, the word edged with something sharp—fear or warning, I couldn’t tell.

“You lied to me,” I spat, my pulse pounding in my ears. My leg screamed with every step as I backed away, but I didn’t stop. “You’ve been lying this whole time.”

“I never lied,” he said, his voice rough, almost pleading now. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d—”

“Run?” I cut him off, my throat raw. “You think I wouldn’t run from the thing we’ve been taught to kill on sight?”

His jaw flexed, the muscle ticking hard. He stepped closer—slow, deliberate. “If I wanted to hurt you, Thea… you’d already be dead.”

The words landed like a blade’s edge—cold, unshakable. My breath caught, and my fingers curled uselessly around the empty air where my knife should’ve been.

“How am I supposed to trust you?” I asked, shaking my head. My gaze flicked past him, measuring the distance to the tunnel. Just a few more steps and I could run.

“You’re bleeding,” he said, glancing down at my leg again, nostrils flaring at the scent.

“Don’t,” I warned, my voice breaking. “Don’t come any closer.”

One more step and I’d be in the tunnel’s shadow. One more step and—

He moved.

Kael’s eyes followed mine and he moved.

Not toward me—past me. In a blur, his body blocked the tunnel mouth, his presence filling it entirely. The glow in his eyes had faded, but the sheer size of him in that narrow space made my pulse thunder in my ears.

My heart slammed against my ribs, the sound loud in my own ears. “Move,” I demanded, though the tremor in my voice betrayed me.

He didn’t. Instead, he took another step forward, his shadow swallowing mine. “You think I’m the threat here?”

His voice was low, dangerous—not because of anger, but because of the raw truth laced in it. “If I hadn’t been what I am, you’d be dead in that water right now.”

The heat in my chest clashed with the chill crawling up my spine. My throat worked, but no words came out. His eyes searched mine—desperate, frustrated, maybe even afraid—but the distance between us kept shrinking.

My pulse pounded in my ears as Kael closed the last of the distance between us. His presence was overwhelming—heat radiating from his body, the faint metallic tang of Leviathan blood still clinging to him.

He stopped just close enough that I could feel his breath ghost against my cheek. His hand lifted slowly, almost cautiously, like he meant to cup my face before I bolted.

Something in me snapped.

I drove my knee upward, fast and hard. The impact landed square, and a sharp grunt tore from his throat as his body folded instinctively, his hand clutching at the air between us.

I didn’t wait to see if he’d recover. I spun on my heel and bolted toward the tunnel, my injured leg screaming in protest. The stone blurred beneath my boots, each step jarring through bone and muscle, but I didn’t dare slow down.

The rasp of my breath roared in my ears, drowning out almost everything—almost. Behind me, Kael’s pained breathing faded… until it didn’t.

“Not that way!” he shouted, his voice frayed with both pain and urgency.

I ignored him, pushing harder, my boots slipping on slick patches of stone. The air in the tunnel grew colder, heavier, pressing in on me from all sides. My heart thrashed in my chest—not just from the sprint, but from the image of his glowing white eyes burned into my mind.

Then I saw movement ahead. A figure stepped out from the darkness.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, with a long, tattered coat that brushed the ground. The dim light caught on the curve of a jagged blade hanging loose at his side. His face was half-hidden in shadow, but what I could see made my stomach twist—sunken eyes, pale and ringed with bruised shadows, his mouth curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile.

He tilted his head as I skidded to a stop, his gaze raking over me like I was something to be weighed and measured… and maybe consumed. The man in front of me had glowing white eyes. Another Harrowed?

“Hello, pretty little thing,” he said, his voice low and curling like smoke, each word drawn out as if savoring the taste. His head tipped further to the side in a disturbingly animalistic way, nostrils flaring wide.

His eyes brightened—sharpened—as the scent of my blood reached him. “You’re hurt,” he murmured, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth, revealing teeth just a shade too sharp. “And you smell… delicious.”

He stepped closer, boots scraping against the stone, every movement deliberate and unhurried—like he knew I had nowhere to go. My grip tightened on nothing, wishing desperately for my knife.

Then Kael was suddenly there, his chest rising and falling with ragged breath as he stepped between me and the man. One hand shot back, gripping my waist with unyielding force as he pulled me behind him. The motion was instinctive—protective. I didn’t fight him, even though every rational part of me screamed that he was no better than the man in front of us.

So why did my pulse stutter at the sight of him standing like a wall between me and the threat?

I gripped Kael’s arm, my fingers digging into the damp fabric, clinging to him as he growled at the man—low and dangerous—his own teeth lengthening in the firelight. “Walk away.”

The stranger’s smile widened, but his gaze never left mine. “This one’s yours, is she?” His tone dripped with mockery. He gave a soft, humorless chuckle. “Then you should’ve kept her on a shorter leash.”

“Back off, Dante,” Kael said, his voice dropping lower, colder—each word edged like a blade.

“Kael,” the man—Dante—drawled, tasting the name like it was something bitter. “Didn’t think you were the kind to keep pets.”

“Last warning,” Kael said, his claws lengthening with an audible scrape. The tension in his shoulders was coiled tight, every line of him straining to keep the fight leashed. The hand that held me shifted, deadly claws catching on the fabric of my shirt. It should have terrified me. Maybe it did. But deep down, I knew those claws weren’t for me—despite the fact I’d just driven my knee into him minutes ago.

Dante’s smirk widened as he leaned forward, as if he could lean over and touch my cheek. “She’s bleeding, Kael. You really going to waste that?”

My pulse thundered in my ears, drowning out the slow, steady drip of water from the cavern walls. Kael let out a low growl, as if warning him to stay back.

The stranger’s grin only sharpened, his gaze cutting from Kael to me. “Careful,” he murmured. “Show too much of your teeth, and she might finally realize what you are.”