Crimson Reign

Chapter 4: The First Rule is Don't Fall

“The first rule is don’t fall.

The second is don’t look back when you do.”

The storm broke at dawn. I stood by the cracked window in Kael’s hidden room. The rain hit the glass so hard it sounded like bones tapping, begging to be let in. Kael was behind me, half-asleep on the mattress. He’d offered me the bed. I’d stayed standing instead. I didn’t know how to rest in places that felt safe. Safe wasn’t real for people like us.

“Do you ever sleep?” Kael’s voice was rough with dreams not yet shaken off.

“Not when the sky’s screaming,” I said.

He made a sound—half a laugh, half a sigh. “You don’t have to watch the door for me,” he said. “If someone comes, they’ll have to get through both of us.” I turned. He was lying on his back, hands behind his head. His shirt was gone, and in the weak light, the scars on his ribs looked like stories no one had finished reading.

“You’re too calm,” I said.

He opened one eye. “I’m calm because you’re not.”

I crossed the room. Sat on the floor next to the mattress, back against the wall.

“You think I’m going to run,” I said.

“I know you’re trying not to.”

He wasn’t wrong.

It was easier to face bullets and blades than to sit this close to him—this man who knew how to touch every truth I’d buried deep.

I glanced at him. He was watching me like I was a puzzle he wanted to break apart with his hands.

“Why don’t you sleep?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I dream about the dead.”

“People you’ve killed?”

“People I didn’t,” I said. A beat of silence. He sat up, hair falling into his eyes. He didn’t reach for me. Didn’t touch me. He just looked. That was worse somehow.

“You think you’re unloveable because you survived?” he asked.

My throat tightened.

“I don’t think about it at all.”

“Liar.”

The storm roared louder. Somewhere, thunder cracked so close the walls rattled. I hated how the sound made me want to move closer to him—like his warmth was safer than any weapon.

“Kael,” I warned.

“Eris.” His voice was so soft it was dangerous.

“You want to know the first rule?” I asked.

“Tell me.”

“Don’t fall,” I said. “Never fall for someone who can kill you while kissing you.”

His lips curved, not quite a smile.

“And the second rule?” he asked.

I looked at him then. Really looked. The way the lightning lit his jaw. The small scar on his lower lip. The way he held my eyes like he already owned the storms in them.

“Don’t look back when you do,” I whispered.

He reached for me. Finally. Not rough. Not demanding. Just his hand, warm and sure, sliding over mine.

“I’m not afraid of falling,” Kael said.

“Then you’re stupid.”

He laughed under his breath.

“Maybe,” he said. “But if I fall, I’m taking you with me.”

I felt my heart stutter. My pulse tried to run, but my body stayed. Outside, the thunder gave way to rain so heavy it blurred the whole city. Inside, Kael’s fingers laced through mine like a promise I didn’t know how to break.

We didn’t kiss.

Not yet. But my mouth was already learning how his name tasted like sin and safety all at once.

And as the storm wrapped around the building, I finally closed my eyes. I didn’t sleep. But I stayed.

The first rule is don’t fall.

Too late.

I was already burning.