Chapter Ten: The Distance Between Us
720 Words
The silence between them was deafening.
Blood still pooled on the cold stone floor, the lifeless body of Vael lying motionless at Azrael’s feet. His heart—ripped from his chest—had stopped beating the moment Azrael crushed it in his fist.
But none of that mattered.
Not to Azrael.
Not when Selene had flinched away from him.
Not when she looked at him with something that wasn’t fear—but something worse.
Regret.
He took a step forward, reaching for her. “Selene.”
She took a step back. A small one. Barely noticeable. But to Azrael, it was everything.
His hand froze midair.
His expression darkened, but his voice remained calm. “Why are you stepping away from me?”
Selene clenched her fists, guilt pressing against her chest like a weight she couldn’t shake off. She should have told him. She should have told him about Vael’s first attempt instead of letting it escalate.
But this…
This was too much.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Azrael’s eyes narrowed. “I shouldn’t have done what?”
She exhaled sharply, wrapping her arms around herself. “You—killed him.”
“I protected you,” he corrected, his tone firm.
“No, Azrael,” she said, shaking her head. “You slaughtered him. You could have punished him, thrown him into the dungeons, exiled him—anything but this.”
Azrael scoffed. “And if I did? Do you think that would have been enough?” His voice dropped lower, colder. “Do you think he would have stopped?”
Selene opened her mouth—then closed it.
She knew the answer.
Vael had been watching her for a long time. He had waited for an opportunity, and the moment he got one, he took it.
Azrael wasn’t wrong.
But…
“You didn’t even hesitate,” she whispered.
Azrael went still.
Selene looked up at him, her brown eyes searching his face. She wasn’t afraid of him—but she was afraid of what this meant.
For the first time, she truly understood what kind of demon he was.
She had seen him as the man who teased her in the mornings, the king who held her in his arms at night, the lover who had turned her body into something he worshiped.
But this…
This was the real Azrael.
A monster.
“I didn’t hesitate,” Azrael finally said, “because he touched you.”
The words sent a shiver down her spine.
She should have been moved by that. Should have felt safe knowing that no one would ever lay a hand on her and live to tell about it.
But instead—
She just felt guilt.
She took another step back, wrapping her arms around herself.
Azrael saw it.
He saw it, and his face darkened.
He had expected relief. Gratitude. Maybe even anger.
But he hadn’t expected this.
Selene looking at him like he had done something wrong.
“You regret not telling me,” he stated, his voice quieter now.
Selene hesitated. “Yes.”
Azrael exhaled sharply through his nose, running a hand through his dark hair. “Then why are you angry at me?”
Because I should have stopped this before it happened.
She couldn’t say it out loud.
Azrael stared at her, waiting. But when she didn’t answer, he clenched his jaw and turned away.
The air was heavy between them, the warmth that once surrounded them now replaced with something cold, something distant.
Selene hated it.
She hated it so much.
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An Unseen Threat
That night, Selene didn’t sleep beside him.
She sat by the window, staring at the moon, deep in thought.
She had made a mistake.
Not in stepping away from Azrael.
Not in feeling guilty.
But in believing this would be the end of it.
Because Vael’s death… was just the beginning.
There were whispers in the palace.
Not just among the servants or the guards—but among the nobles, among the demons who sat in Azrael’s court.
They called him ruthless.
They called her his weakness.
And somewhere, in the shadows of the demon realm, another threat was already watching.
Waiting.
And this time, Azrael wouldn’t see it coming.
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End of Chapter.
- Writer
